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

Open-File Report 80-1229
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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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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
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