Coal Run 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 ...

Shamokin Creek Shamokin Creek (also known as Great Shamokin Creek or Middle Branch Shamokin Creek) is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Mount Carmel, M ...

Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Northumberland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,647. Its county seat is Sunbury. The county was formed in 1772 from parts of Lancas ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Mount Carmel Township, Coal Township, and Shamokin. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The stream is designated as an impaired waterbody due to metals from abandoned mine drainage. It is an ephemeral stream. Virtually all of the watershed is in coal mining regions. Various sawmills and coal mines have historically been constructed on Coal Run. A number of bridges have also been built across the stream. Its drainage basin is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery and was historically inhabited by

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

Course

Coal Run begins in a lake in Mount Carmel Township. It flows east-southeast through a valley for several tenths of a mile before entering Coal Township. The stream continues flowing east-southeast for more than a mile before turning south for a short distance. It then turns southwest for a few tenths of a mile before turning south for a few tenths of a mile. After this, the stream crosses

Pennsylvania Route 61 Pennsylvania Route 61 (PA 61) is an state highway in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route is signed on a north–south direction, running from U.S. Route 222 Business (US 222 Bus.) in Reading northwest to US 11/US 15/ ...

and passes near the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

of Ranshaw. The stream then flows in a west-northwesterly direction for several tenths of a mile, passing through the census-designated place of Marshalton before entering Shamokin. The stream then flows west for a few tenths of a mile until it reaches its confluence with Shamokin Creek. Coal Run joins Shamokin Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

The entire length of Coal Run is designated as an impaired waterbody. The cause of the impairment is metals and the 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 ...

. The stream is one of several in the watershed of Shamokin Creek to be impacted by abandoned mine drainage, although it is not seriously impacted. However, it is fairly consistently neutral or

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...

, with an average pH of 6.5, though its pH can be as low as 4.8. The stream's water comes from mine discharges such as the Greenough Mine discharge, the Nielson Mine discharge, and the Luke Fidler Mine discharge. The stream is also impacted by raw

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

discharges. In the early 1900s, mine water from the Richards No. 4 Colliery entered the stream. Numerous other streams of black waste water from other collieries discharged into the stream as well. Coal Run is an

ephemeral stream A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams are ...

. In 1999 and 2000, its

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

ranged from . The temperature of the stream ranged from and the

specific conductance Electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allow ...

ranged between 613 and 627 micro-siemens per centimeter at . The concentration of

water hardness Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbo ...

ranged from in the two times it was measured. The concentration of

total suspended solids Total suspended solids (TSS) is the dry-weight of suspended particles, that are not dissolved, in a sample of water that can be trapped by a filter that is analyzed using a filtration apparatus known as sintered glass crucible. TSS is a water qua ...

was in 2000, while the concentration of

total dissolved solids Total dissolved solids (TDS) is a measure of the dissolved combined content of all inorganic and organic substances present in a liquid in molecular, ionized, or micro-granular ( colloidal sol) suspended form. TDS concentrations are often repor ...

was . 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 ...

of the stream ranged from 0.0 to 4.0

Nephelometric Turbidity Unit 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 c ...

s. In 2000, the concentrations of recoverable

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

and

potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosphe ...

in Coal Run were . The concentrations of recoverable

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

and

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...

were . The concentrations of recoverable

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

were , while the concentration of recoverable

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

was less than . In 1999 and 2000, the concentration of

dissolved oxygen Oxygen saturation (symbol SO2) is a relative measure of the concentration of oxygen that is dissolved or carried in a given medium as a proportion of the maximal concentration that can be dissolved in that medium at the given temperature. It ca ...

in Coal Run ranged from , while the

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

concentration was both times it was measured. In 2000, the

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

concentration was . The

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

concentration was . The

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

concentration in the stream's filtered water was , the

sulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...

concentration ranged from and the

chloride The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts ...

concentration ranged from . The concentration of

nitrite The nitrite polyatomic ion, ion has the chemical formula . Nitrite (mostly sodium nitrite) is widely used throughout chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The nitrite anion is a pervasive intermediate in the nitrogen cycle in nature. The name ...

was less than , while the

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

concentration in unfiltered water was .

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 Run 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 Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

is between above sea level.

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

deposits occur in the watershed of Coal Run. There are also underground mine complexes in the vicinity of the stream. Almost all of the watershed is in the

Coal Region The Coal Region is a region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is known for being home to the largest known deposits of anthracite, anthracite coal in the world with an estimated reserve of seven billion short tons. The region is typically define ...

. In the early 1900s, fine culm was carried into Coal Run via waste water streams from collieries. However, there were no large culm deposits on the stream below the Hickory Ridge Colliery. Trash and sewage entered the stream at Shamokin.

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 Run 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 Shamokin. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Mount Carmel. The designated uses of Coal Run are coal water and migratory fishes.

History

Coal Run 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 1172073. The stream is also known as Coal Run Creek. John C. Boyd constructed a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

on Coal Run in the early 1800s. Coal mining was being occasionally done in the vicinity of the stream by 1825. In 1828, Daniel Derk opened a mine on Coal Run near a public road that crossed the stream. Derk was injured while working in this mine, making him the first miner to be injured in Northumberland County. A

railroad bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

historically crossed Coal Run. In the early 1900s, J.H. & C.K. Eagle, Inc. requested permission to construct a coal dredging plant on the bank of the stream. In the early 1900s, there were several

collieries 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 ...

and washeries in the watershed of Coal Run. These included the Hickory Ridge Colliery, the Luke Fiddler Colliery, the Hickory Swamp Washery, the Natalie Colliery, and the Colbert Colliery. The first three were owned by the Susquehanna Coal Company, the fourth was owned by the Colonial Collieries Company, and the fifth was owned by the Shipman Coal Company. A concrete slab bridge carrying State Route 2026 over Coal Run was built in 1938. It is long and is located in the village of Coal Run. A concrete channel beam bridge carrying State Route 2017 was built over the stream in 1952 and repaired in 2007. This bridge is long and is located in the village of

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

. A concrete culvert bridge was built over the stream south of Paxinos in 1970. This bridge is long and carries State Route 8001.

Biology

The drainage basin of Coal Run is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Historically, in around 1840, the stream was "filled with

References

{{authority control Rivers of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Shamokin Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania