DRILL HOLE DATA FOR COAL BEDS IN THE POWDER RIVER BASIN, MONTANA AND WYOMING

By Jon E. Haacke and David C. Scott

2013

U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 713

ABSTRACT:

This report, by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), of the Powder River Basin
of Montana and Wyoming is part of the U.S. Coal Resources and Reserves Assessment
Project. Essential to that project was the creation of a comprehensive drill hole
database that was used for coal bed correlation and for coal resource and reserve
assessments in the Powder River Basin. This drill hole database was assembled
using data from the USGS National Coal Resources Data System, several other
Federal and State agencies, and selected mining companies. Additionally, USGS
personnel manually entered lithologic picks into the database from geophysical
logs of oil, gas, and coalbed methane wells. Of the 29,928 drill holes processed,
records of 21,393 are in the public domain and are included in this report. The
database contains location information, lithology, and coal bed names for each
drill hole.

DISCLAIMERS:

Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and
does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain,
it also contains copyrighted materials as noted in the text.  Permission to
reproduce copyrighted items for other than personal use must be secured from
the copyright owner.

Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at
the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding
the display or utility of the data on any other system, or for general or
scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such
warranty. The U.S. Geological Survey shall not be held liable for improper or
incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein.

This data base, identified as DS 713, has been approved for release and
publication by the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey.  Although this
database has been subjected to rigorous review and is substantially complete,
the U.S. Geological Survey reserves the right to revise the data pursuant
to further analysis and review. Furthermore, it is released on condition
that neither the U.S. Geological Survey nor the U.S. Government may be held
liable for any damages resulting from its authorized or unauthorized use.

CONTENTS:

00Readme.txt
DS713.pdf

datafiles:


     Database
          PRB drill holes - Location.CSV
          PRB drill holes - Location.DBF
          PRB drill holes - Stratigraphy.CSV
          PRB drill holes - Stratigraphy.DBF
	  PRBwells2011csv.zip
	  PRBwells2011.dbf.zip

     GIS (as PRB_drill_holes.gdb, PRB_drill_holes_2011.mxd and zip, PRB_drill_holes_2011.pmf and zip, 		PRBwells2011geodatabase.zip, and shapefile.zip)
          PRBdrillholes.shp (.dbf/.prj/.sbn/.sbx/.shx)
          PRBboundary.shp (.dbf/.prj/.sbn/.sbx/.shx)
          PRBcoalAA.shp (.dbf/.prj/.sbn/.sbx/.shx)
          PRBgeology.shp (.dbf/.prj/.sbn/.sbx/.shx)
          PRBtriballands.shp (.dbf/.prj/.sbn/.sbx/.shx)
          SDEBASE_USPLSSG.shp (.dbf/.prj/.sbn/.sbx/.shx)
          SDEFEDLANDS_USOWN00G.shp (.dbf/.prj/.sbn/.sbx/.shx)

     Metadata
          PRBcoalAA.htm (.txt/.xml)
          PRBdrillholes.htm (.txt/.xml)
          PRBgeology.htm (.txt/.xml)
          metadata.zip


VI. INSTRUCTIONS AND DOCUMENTATION FOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY DATA SERIES 713

To access the data:

The data files can be downloaded via the web from http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/713.

The text product is a Portable Document Format (.pdf) pamphlet which requires Adobe Acrobat
for viewing. Acrobat software runs on a variety of systems, and is available for download
free of charge from Adobe at http://www.adobe.com.

Software Recommended:
Adobe Acrobat (6.x, 7.x, or 8.x), or Adobe Acrobat Pro (6.x, 7.x, or 8.x), or the free
Adobe Reader (6.x, 7.x, or 8.x), 8.x is preferred.

ArcGIS 9.3 preferred, older versions may also work.

Excel Viewer may be downloaded free of charge from
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=10 for viewing additional files included
in this report.