Geology & Setting
Parcel 34-02-0016-0027-0000 · Grant District, Nicholas County, WV · USGS Gilboa quad.
Beyond the boundary lines, the land sits in a well-characterised geologic and regional setting. This page folds together the bedrock, the soils, the nearby protected land, and the mine-entrance context — the reference layers that sit behind the interactive map.
Bedrock geology
The entire parcel lies within a single bedrock unit: the Pennsylvanian Kanawha Formation of the Pottsville Group (map unit Pnk), a Paleozoic sedimentary sequence of sandstone, shale and interbedded coal. The Kanawha Formation is the coal-bearing package that hosts every seam worked on and around the property.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Formation | Kanawha |
| Group | Pottsville |
| Map unit | Pnk |
| Era / period | Paleozoic / Pennsylvanian |
| Dominant rock | Sandstone (with shale & coal) |
| Named coal beds | Stockton, Coalburg, Winifrede, Chilton, Williamson, Cedar Grove, Alma, Peerless, Campbell Creek, Powellton, Eagle, Gilbert, Douglas |
Source: WV Geological & Economic Survey (WVGES) 1968 geologic map of West Virginia, via the WV GIS Technical Center.
Soils
Twelve SSURGO soil map units cross the property. The valley bottoms carry the best ground — the Pope-Craigsville complex and the gentle Buchanan loam are rated “all areas are prime farmland,” while most of the mid-slopes are farmland of statewide importance. The steep, stony ridges (Dekalb, Kaymine, Highsplint) are not prime farmland.
| Farmland class | Map units |
|---|---|
| All areas are prime farmland | 2 |
| Farmland of statewide importance | 6 |
| Farmland of local importance | 1 |
| Not prime farmland | 3 |
Source: USDA NRCS Soil Survey (SSURGO), Nicholas County Area, WV.
Mine entrances & portals
No mapped mine entrance or portal lies on the parcel. The nearest documented openings are the reclaimed Cari-Eagle surface facilities about 0.7 km east, at the head of Whitewater Branch, sealed and released under SMCRA by 1993. (WVDEP's abandoned-mine-lands inventory carries the adjacent Whitewater Branch mine-drainage problem, WV002592.) See Coal & Mining for the full workings detail.
Nearby protected land
None of the parcel is protected or public land — it is entirely private. But several public conservation and recreation units lie a few kilometres away, in the Gauley / Summersville corridor:
| Unit | Manager | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Gauley River National Recreation Area | National Park Service | National Recreation Area |
| Summersville Lake | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | Recreation / flood control |
| Summersville Lake Wildlife Management Area | USACE / WV DNR | Wildlife Management Area |
| Carnifex Ferry Battlefield State Park | WV State Parks | State Park |
Source: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US 4.1).