Coal Brook is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the Lackawanna River in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Fell Township and Carbondale. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The stream experiences flow loss and is impaired by flow alterations and metals. Most of its length is heavily impacted by past mining and the lower reaches are in an underground culvert. The Coal Brook Colliery was historically in the stream's watershed. Coal Brook is a first-order stream and is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

Course

Coal Brook begins on a mountain in Fell Township. It flows south-southeast for several tenths of a mile before turning east for several hundred feet. The stream then turns south for approximately a mile before entering Carbondale. At this point, it turns southeast. A few tenths of a mile further downstream, it reaches its confluence with the Lackawanna River. Coal Book joins the Lackawanna River upriver of its mouth.

Hydrology

Coal Brook is designated as an impaired stream. The causes of the impairment are flow alterations and metals. The likely source of the impairment is

abandoned mine drainage Abandoned mine drainage (also known as AMD) is a form of water pollution involving water that has been polluted by contact with mines, typically coal mines. Although it is sometimes called "acid mine drainage", not all abandoned mine drainage i ...

. Coal Brook experiences total flow loss. In the 1990s, the stream has "very low flow". However, a comprehensive restoration project could restore flow and a natural channel to Coal Brook. In October 2000, stream flow disappeared in a reach upstream of Dundaff Road.

Stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed la ...

pipes from Carbondale drain into Coal Brook in the reach where it flows through an underground culvert. Leaking sewer pipes also drain into the stream in this reach. In the early 1900s, the mouth of the stream was free of culm. However, its flow was colored white by

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

-contaminated water from the Coal Brook Colliery. A stream of mine water entered the stream at one point and culm banks in its vicinity were subject to wash. Nevertheless, its upper reaches were clear.

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 Coal Brook is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The elevation of the stream's source is between above sea level. Coal Brook flows through

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

lands. Only the uppermost of its length have avoided being impacted; they are above the

coal measures In lithostratigraphy, the coal measures are the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. In the United Kingdom, the Coal Measures Group consists of the Upper Coal Measures Formation, the Middle Coal Measures Formation and the Lower Coal ...

. From Dundaff Road to a point downstream, the stream flows through areas of culm, waste rock, and strip pits from the old Coal Brook Colliery. Small

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

s, and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s are in the stream's watershed. Its headwaters are in mountain springs. Upon reaching the Carbondale Nursing Home, Coal Brook enters an underground

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

. Its course is not exactly known in this reach. However, it discharges into the Lackawanna River via a pipe. Some reaches of Coal Brook have been entirely destroyed either by historic mining or by post-mining development. Additionally, substantial deposits of culm and

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

s from mining operations line occur in the stream's vicinity. The stream does not run through

drift Drift or Drifts may refer to: Geography * Drift or ford (crossing) of a river * Drift, Kentucky, unincorporated community in the United States * In Cornwall, England: ** Drift, Cornwall, village ** Drift Reservoir, associated with the village ...

, but rather through solid rock. Its course is largely determined by the rocks' structure.

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 Coal Brook has an area of . The mouth of the stream is in 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, ...

quadrangle of Waymart. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Carbondale. Coal Brook is a

first-order In mathematics and other formal sciences, first-order or first order most often means either: * "linear" (a polynomial of degree at most one), as in first-order approximation and other calculus uses, where it is contrasted with "polynomials of high ...

stream. Dundaff Road is slightly to the east of its headwaters.

History

Coal Brook was entered into 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 ...

on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1172047. The Coal Brook Colliery historically operated in the watershed of Coal Brook. It was owned by the Delaware and Hudson Coal Company. In a reach of Coal Brook upstream of Dundaff Road, the Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation once completed a reclamation project, filling stripping pits and regrading waste rock. In the early 2000s, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan also recommended that Carbondale Township and Carbondale include protection of Coal Brook in their comprehensive plans, as well as their ordinances for land use, zoning, and subdivision. The stream is on the Watershed Restoration Priority List of the Lackawanna River Corridor Association.

Biology

The drainage basin of Coal Brook is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. As of the early 1990s, no

macroinvertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate s ...

s inhabit the stream. At the headwaters of Coal Brook, the stream has a substantial riparian buffer consisting of

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

trees and understory. However, some logging has occurred in its vicinity. Further downstream, successional and

invasive Invasive may refer to: *Invasive (medical) procedure *Invasive species *Invasive observation, especially in reference to surveillance *Invasively progressive spread of disease from one organ in the body to another, especially in reference to cancer ...

vegetation occurs along the stream channel.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Lackawanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania