Butternut Run is a tributary of Bowman Creek in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Lake Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The surficial geology along the stream consists of Wisconsinan Till. Its drainage basin is designated as a High-Quality Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery and the stream is

Class A Wild Trout Waters Class A Wild Trout Waters are the highest biomass class given to streams in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. They are considered to contain the highest-quality naturally reproducing trout populations in Pennsylvania. Th ...

Course

Butternut Run begins at the head of a valley on Kocher Mountain in Lake Township. It flows north through the valley for several tenths of a mile, receiving two short, unnamed tributaries (one from the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

and one from the right). The stream then turns northwest for several tenths of a mile before turning north for several hundred feet. After this, it turns northeast, leaving its valley. A short distance further downstream, it reaches its confluence with Bowman Creek. Butternut Run joins Bowman Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

The concentration of alkalinity in Butternut Run is .

Geography and geology

The elevation near the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

of Butternut Run is above sea level. The elevation of the stream's source is between above sea level. The

surficial geology Superficial deposits (or surficial deposits) refer to geological deposits typically of Quaternary age (less than 2.6 million years old). These geologically recent unconsolidated sediments may include stream channel and floodplain deposits, beach ...

along the length of Butternut Run features a till known as Wisconsinan Till. In the streams lower reaches, this is underlain by

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

clays. The stream's valley walls and the area surrounding the valley has surficial geology featuring

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

consisting of sandstone and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

Watershed

The

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of Butternut Run has an area of . The stream is entirely within the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of Sweet Valley. Its mouth is located near Mountain Springs. The entire length of Butternut Run is on private land that is closed to access.

History

Butternut Run was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1170818.

Biology

The drainage basin of Butternut Run is designated as a High-Quality Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Wild trout naturally reproduce in the stream from its headwaters downstream to its mouth. It is classified by the

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is an independent state agency responsible for the regulation of all fishing and boating in the state of Pennsylvania within the United States of America. Unlike many U.S. states, Pennsylvania has a separ ...

as Class A Wild Trout Waters for

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

from its headwaters downstream to its mouth.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Bowman Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania