FeS₂ H₂SO₄ Fe²⁺ SO₄²⁻ H⁺ Al³⁺ REE La Ce Nd
WV AMD
An Atlas of Environmental Legacy
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Experimental Atlas · West Virginia · Appalachian Coalfields

Acid Mine Drainage

A living record of where West Virginia's coal country left its chemistry in the water — and where that same legacy holds elements worth recovering.

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West Virginia · Legacy Landscape
An abandoned coal operation
and the watershed it left behind
Decades after mining ceased, the chemistry persists.
AMD Index 0.00
01 — Mission

The ground beneath
Appalachia hides
a chemical legacy

When sulfide minerals are exposed to oxygen and water during coal extraction, they produce sulfuric acid. That acid dissolves metals, kills aquatic life, and continues flowing into streams for centuries after mines close.

West Virginia — the heart of the Appalachian coalfields — carries more documented acid mine drainage than almost anywhere on Earth. This atlas surfaces that damage: where it is, how severe it is, and what else it might contain.

0Monitoring sites
0AMD parameters
0Years of record
02 — Chemical signatures

Four numbers
that tell the story

AMD is a chemical cascade. These four measurements define the damage — and the opportunity.

pH
pH
Acidity
2 – 6
Standard units · Normal streams 6.5–8.5
SO₄
SO₄²⁻
Sulfate
> 1,000 mg/L
Pyrite oxidation product · EPA limit 250 mg/L
Fe
Fe / Al
Dissolved metals
Tens–hundreds mg/L
Orange "yellowboy" visible above 0.3 mg/L
REE
REE
Rare earths in sludge
10 – 1,000+ ppm
Recovery-grade in select Appalachian basins
03 — The living atlas

The map
is the story

USGS live data, NHDPlus streams, HUC12 watersheds — one interactive layer over the entire state.

AMD Severity Monitoring Sites REE Potential NHDPlus Streams HUC12 Watersheds
AMD & REE Monitoring — West Virginia
ArcGIS Online · AMD_REE_Portal
AMD-impacted reaches
Monitoring stations
REE-potential zones
HUC12 boundaries
CC BY 4.0 · USGS · EPA WQP · ArcGIS Living Atlas
04 — Rare earth recovery

Pollution
as resource

AMD treatment sludge concentrates rare earth elements as they co-precipitate with iron and aluminum hydroxides. Some Appalachian AMD systems produce sludge at ore-comparable REE grades.

Low pH keeps REEs mobile in AMD water. When pH rises during treatment, they bind to iron floc — which means existing treatment plants are already intercepting the REE-bearing flux.

At-source recovery: AMD treatment infrastructure, built as pollution control, can double as a critical-mineral concentrator — converting a century-long liability into a REE asset.
Target elements
LaLanthanum~12 ppm
CeCerium~24 ppm
PrPraseodymium~3 ppm
NdNeodymium~10 ppm
SmSamarium~2 ppm
EuEuropium~0.4 ppm
GdGadolinium~2 ppm
DyDysprosium~2 ppm
YYttrium~8 ppm
ScScandium~4 ppm

Indicative concentrations in AMD sludge from published Appalachian studies. Hover to reveal values.

05 — Open data

Every layer,
freely available

All layers published under CC BY 4.0 via ArcGIS Online. Export CSV, Shapefile, or GeoJSON from the map viewer.

Water Quality Points
Site-level AMD chemistry — pH, sulfate, iron, conductance, alkalinity from USGS and WQP.
CSVSHPGeoJSON
AMD Severity Layer
Stream-reach polygons scored 0–100 for AMD severity based on chemistry thresholds and flow data.
SHPGeoJSONFGDB
REE Potential Zones
Watershed-level REE potential derived from AMD chemistry proxies and treatment-site proximity.
SHPGeoJSON
HUC12 Watersheds
WBD HUC12 sub-watersheds for West Virginia with AMD severity aggregates attached.
SHPGeoJSON
USGS Live Stations
Real-time OGC API — site metadata, latest continuous values, daily aggregates via USGS Water Data.
OGC APIJSON
Time-Series Values
15-minute and daily sensor records for pH, conductance, and sulfate across all active stations.
OGC APICSV
West Virginia AMD & REE Atlas

The atlas is open.
The data is live.

Open the Map →
Georgia Tech Grand Challenges Program
06 — Origin

Born from
Grand Challenges

This atlas started as a team project through the Georgia Tech Grand Challenges program — an interdisciplinary initiative tackling the world's most pressing problems.

Georgia Tech Grand Challenges
The Collaboration

Where innovation
meets on-the-ground
expertise

Our team is advised by the GT Grand Challenges program, led by Dr. Jeffrey Davis and Dr. Ilya Gokhman. Alongside Georgia Tech's technical infrastructure, we are supported by researchers and professors from West Virginia University who bring deep domain expertise and local knowledge of AMD issues.

We have also interviewed stakeholders directly involved in AMD cleanup efforts — hearing their perspective from tackling acid mine drainage on the ground. This interdisciplinary collaboration ensures our platform is technically robust, scientifically accurate, and built for the people who need it most.

GT
Georgia Tech
Dr. Jeffrey Davis
Program Advisor · Grand Challenges

Leads the GT Grand Challenges program, guiding interdisciplinary student teams toward scalable, real-world solutions to complex environmental and societal problems.

GT
Georgia Tech
Dr. Ilya Gokhman
Program Advisor · Grand Challenges

Co-leads the Grand Challenges initiative at Georgia Tech, providing strategic direction and technical mentorship to the AMD & REE research team.

WV
West Virginia University
Dr. Dorothy Vesper
Low-Temperature Geochemist · Domain Expert

A leading expert in coal-mine drainage and contaminant transport through water systems. Her extensive experience in AMD remediation has guided our scientific approach and ensured the accuracy of this platform.

The AMD & REE Research Team
The Team Georgia Tech & WVU · Grand Challenges
AMD & REE Atlas · 2025
07 — Acknowledgements

With
gratitude to

"This work stands on the data infrastructure built by federal agencies, state regulators, and researchers who have monitored these damaged waters for decades — often with little recognition."

Research & Data
  • US Geological SurveyWater Resources Mission Area · National Water Information System
  • US Environmental Protection AgencyWater Quality Portal · STORET Database
  • WV Department of Environmental ProtectionDivision of Water and Waste Management
  • National Mine Land Reclamation CenterWest Virginia University
Technical & Spatial
  • Esri ArcGIS OnlineLiving Atlas of the World · Hosted Feature Layers
  • USGS National Hydrography DatasetNHDPlus High Resolution Stream Network
  • USGS Watershed Boundary DatasetHUC12 Sub-Watershed Boundaries
  • USGS Water Data OGC APIReal-time and Historical Sensor Data
Scientific Foundation
  • AMD Stakeholder PartnersCommunity members & remediation practitioners interviewed directly
  • DOE Critical Materials InstituteREE Recovery from Secondary Sources
  • Appalachian Research Initiativefor Environmental Science (ARIES)
  • Downstream StrategiesAMD field documentation across Appalachian coalfields

This atlas was developed as a Grand Challenges project at Georgia Tech in collaboration with West Virginia University, combining Georgia Tech's innovation with WVU's on-the-ground expertise to create a sustainable and impactful resource for AMD monitoring and mitigation. All findings are preliminary and subject to revision as datasets evolve.

GT Grand Challenges · CC BY 4.0 · 2025