Black Thunder Mine A Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA story
Energy
Mining
The Black Thunder Mine, shown in the series of Landsat images on the left, has sent 2.2 billion tons of coal to U.S. power plants since 1977. It produces 4 tons of coal per second.
The images show the expansion of the open-pit mining operations at Black Thunder. The black lines are the coal seams, the layers of coal that formed over time and lie under the land surface. Lighter straight lines are stepped benches that allow trucks to drive in and out of the mine.
Location
June 29, 1984, Landsat 5 (path/row 34/30) — Black Thunder Mine, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 23, 1992, Landsat 5 (path/row 34/30) — Black Thunder Mine, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 24, 1998, Landsat 5 (path/row 34/30) — Black Thunder Mine, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 22, 2003, Landsat 5 (path/row 34/30) — Black Thunder Mine, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 19, 2008, Landsat 5 (path/row 34/30) — Black Thunder Mine, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 20, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 34/30) — Black Thunder Mine, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 18, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 34/30) — Black Thunder Mine, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 7, 2021, Landsat 8 (path/row 34/30) — Black Thunder Mine, Wyoming, USA
Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA Additional Imagery & Stories
Animations
The coal mines in the PRB advance quickly enough to see a lot of change from year to year. Two animations available here show the annual change of the...
North Antelope Rochelle Complex Mines
The North Antelope Rochelle Complex is the most productive of the PRB mines. In 2018, the mine sold 98.4 million tons of coal. In 2017, it accounted f...
Oil
The PRB has become about more than just coal. Oil production is also increasing. Similar to the Bakken Formation in North Dakota, new technologies are...
The Mining Process
The mining process that takes place in the PRB is called surface mining. First, the topsoil is removed. The material above the coal (overburden in min...