Long-term highwall stability in the northwestern Powder River basin, Wyoming and Montana

William K. Smith

doi:10.3133/ofr801229

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Long-term highwall stability in the northwestern Powder River basin, Wyoming and Montana

William K. Smith

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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.

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Source-reported bounding extent: 41.409775832009565° to 46.7549166192819° latitude; -108.1494140625° to -104.23828125° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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William K. Smith. 1980. Long-term highwall stability in the northwestern Powder River basin, Wyoming and Montana. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr801229

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