Long-term highwall stability in the northwestern Powder River basin, Wyoming and Montana
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Abstract
Time-dependent behavior of natural and and excavated slopes in sedimentary rocks is a subject that is poorly understood at present but that is now an important consideration in the design, operation, and reclamation of energy-extraction facilities, in part because of the environmental considerations mandated by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-87.)
A slide in an abandoned, unreclaimed strip mine northwest of Sheridan, Wyoming, has been analyzed as an example of a long-term slop failure in the region. This slide occurred in early 1975, some 20 years after cessation of mining. This investigation used Spencer's limiting equilibruim method and an elastic-plastic finite element method incorporating the Drucker-Prager yield criterion.
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Long-term highwall stability in the northwestern Powder River basin, Wyoming and Montana |
| Series title | Open-File Report |
| Series number | 80-1229 |
| DOI | 10.3133/ofr801229 |
| Year Published | 1980 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Description | xi, 106 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Montana, Wyoming |
| Other Geospatial | Powder River basin |