Aerial of Mountaintop Removal Mine
« Back to Mountain Top Removal-When Mountains Move, March, 2006 National Geographic Magazine


© - Contact
Gallery image: 23 of 29
Mountaintop removal is a mining practice drastically transforming Appalachia. It is an antiseptic term used to describe the most profound assault on land imaginable.
Like a cancerous mutation of strip mining, entire mountaintops are blasted away to obtain a small seam of coal. Unwanted rock is pushed into valleys and streams, destroying natural watersheds, leaving no vegetation, and turning the terrain into unusable land.
So many small streambeds are dumped...
more »
Like a cancerous mutation of strip mining, entire mountaintops are blasted away to obtain a small seam of coal. Unwanted rock is pushed into valleys and streams, destroying natural watersheds, leaving no vegetation, and turning the terrain into unusable land.
So many small streambeds are dumped...
more »
Image Details
- Dimensions: 3504x2336
- File size: 5.2MB
Keywords:
West Virginia, mountaintop removal, Appalachia, coal mine, mining, strip mine, coal, environment, ecology, energy, industry, economy, impact, human impact, environmental impact, man and nature, man versus nature, man vs. nature, greed, desire, irresponsible, reckless, damage, extreme, culture, sub culture, lifestyle, reality, destructive, destroy, community, man versus man, work, occupation, disrupt, past, present, sad, unjust, unfair, neglect, depressed, coal mining company, history, American history, forced out, abandoned, industry vs. humanity, corporate, threatened, vulnerable, pollution, issue, health risk, post-mining, reclamation, restore, contoured, artificial, disaster