The Charlotte River is a tributary of the St. Marys River in the state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

in the United States. The stream is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data fro
The National Map
, accessed 2016-10-13 and viewed in

ArcMap ArcMap is the main component of Esri's ArcGIS suite of geospatial processing programs, and is used primarily to view, edit, create, and analyze geospatial data. ArcMap allows the user to explore data within a data set, symbolize features accordin ...

. and drains an area of U.S. Geological Survey.

National Hydrography Dataset The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is a digital database of surface water features used to make maps. It contains features such as lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, canals, dams and stream gages for the United States. Description Cartographers ...

, area data covering Charlotte River watershed (12-digit

Hydrologic Unit Code A hydrological code or hydrologic unit code is a sequence of numbers or letters (a ''geocode'') that identify a hydrological unit or feature, such as a river, river reach, lake, or area like a drainage basin (also called watershed in North Americ ...

s 040700010203 and 040700010204), viewed i
The National Map
, accessed 2016-10-13. on the eastern

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...

. Via the St. Marys River, it is part of 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 ...

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

. Via Lake Huron and the Great Lakes system, it is part of the larger watershed of the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

Course

The river's entire length and watershed are in eastern Chippewa County. As defined by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

, the river begins in southeastern Dafter Township, approximately south-southeast of the unincorporated community of Dafter. It flows for most of its length in Bruce Township, initially northeastward before turning southeastward at the unincorporated locality of Rosedale. It flows into the West Neebish Channel of the St. Marys River, opposite the northern end of

Neebish Island Neebish Island is located in the U.S. state of Michigan, in the St. Marys River, which connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron at the easternmost point of Michigan's upper peninsula. Located west of the international border that separates the Uni ...

and approximately southeast of

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Sault Ste. Marie ( ') is the only city in, and county seat of, Chippewa County, Michigan, Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. With a population of 13,337 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the second-most populated ...

.The National Map
, accessed 2016-10-13. Some maps show the river's course upstream of Rosedale as the South Branch Charlotte River, with the name "Charlotte River" upstream of this point assigned to a southeastward flowing tributary. In the National Hydrography Dataset, this tributary appears only as an unnamed stream. "South Branch Charlotte River" is also listed in the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

as a variant name. The National Hydrography Dataset lists one named tributary in the Charlotte River watershed, Spring Creek, a right tributary approximately long. Near its mouth the river flows through

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

's Dunbar Forest Experiment Station, an off-campus

forest management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This includes management for ...

research area.

Watershed characteristics

The Charlotte River watershed consists of two HUC-12 subwatersheds, as defined by the

: In addition to Dafter and Bruce townships, the Charlotte River also drains a small portion of Soo Township. The watershed is located in a predominantly rural region, much of which has been

drained ''Drained'', (Portuguese: ''O Cheiro do Ralo'') is a 2006 Brazilian dark comedy film based on a novel by Lourenço Mutarelli. It was directed by Heitor Dhalia, and stars Selton Mello. The film was produced by Geração Conteúdo, Primo Filmes & R ...

for agriculture, logging, and development. Soils in the region are primarily poorly drained

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

s over

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

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 ...

. On average, the region receives approximately of precipitation annually, and there is usually heavy snow cover in the winter. Runoff from

artesian wells An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...

contributes to the

turbidity Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...

that is typical of the region's streams. According to a 2012 report prepared for the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the watershed had an estimated population of 3,451 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. There were an estimated 1,562 households, all of which were serviced by onsite sanitary disposal systems. Land use in the Charlotte River watershed was reported as follows:

Notes

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Michigan Rivers of Chippewa County, Michigan Tributaries of Lake Huron

Course

Watershed characteristics

See also

Notes

References