ABSTRACT:Hydrologic records from six small Eastern Kentucky watersheds were analyzed to determine the effect of surface mining on storm flows and peak flows. Average storm flow volumes were not changed by surface mining, whereas average peak flows were increased 36 percent. Peak flow increases were only in the summer. Smaller peak flows are doubled; moderate ones are increased by about a third; peak flows around 100 csm seem to be largely unaffected; and the larger peak flows may have been reduced by surface mining. The maximum annual storm flows, usually in winter or spring, appeared slightly reduced. No time trend in either storm flows or peak flows could be detected in five years of postmining record. Surface mining is not a serious floodwater discharge problem.
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