Cranberry Run is a tributary of

Catawissa Creek Catawissa Creek (colloquially known as The Cat) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in east-central Pennsylvania in th ...

Columbia County, Pennsylvania Columbia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,727. Its county seat is Bloomsburg. The county was created on March 22, 1813, from part ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Beaver Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The stream is considered to be a Coldwater Fishery. The main rock formations in the stream's watershed are the Mauch Chunk Formation and the Pocono Formation and the main soils are the Leck Kill soil and the Hazleton soil.

Course

Cranberry Run begins on

Catawissa Mountain Catawissa Mountain is a mountain in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Its peak height is above sea level, making it the fifth-highest mountain in Columbia County. Streams that flow near the mountain include Roaring Creek, Cataw ...

in Beaver Township. It flows northeast in a valley for over a mile, getting within several hundred feet of the border between Columbia County and Schuylkill County. The stream eventually turns roughly north, crosses Bunker Hill Road, and flows between Catawissa Mountain and Bunker Hill, getting further from the county line. After crossing Cranberry Run Road, it turns northeast and reaches its confluence with Catawissa Creek after a few hundred feet. Cranberry Run joins Catawissa Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Cranberry Run has no tributaries, named or unnamed.

Hydrology

A total of of Cranberry Run is considered to be impaired by atmospheric deposition due to pH. It also experiences some form of pollution. The stream is highly acidic and affected by acidic precipitation. Its pH is 5.8 and the total concentration of

alkalinity Alkalinity (from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is the capacity of water to resist acidification. It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength of ...

is 0 milligrams per liter. The cranberry bogs at the headwaters of the stream may contribute to its acidity. 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 ...

in the stream is 4 milligrams per liter. At 1:25 P.M. on June 24, 1997, the air temperature in the vicinity of Cranberry Run was . The water temperature of the stream at that time was . 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 ...

of the stream is 22 umhos.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Cranberry 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 is approximately above sea level. The lower reaches of Cranberry Run are on rock of the

Mauch Chunk Formation The Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is named for the township of Mauch Chunk, now known as borough of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania and for nearby Mauch Chunk Ridge where th ...

. The upper reaches of the stream is on rock of the

Pocono Formation The Mississippian Pocono Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, in the United States. It is also known as the Pocono Group in Maryland and West Virginia, and the upper part of the Pocono Formation is somet ...

. The lower reaches of the stream are on Leck Kill

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

and the rest of the stream is on Hazleton soil. A small hill known as Bunker Hill is located near Cranberry Run. Catawissa Mountain is also in the vicinity of the stream. Very few areas along the stream are prone to

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing. Cranberry Run has a high gradient of 86.8 meters per kilometer. It is also a small stream, with a width of 2.7 meters.

Watershed, history, and etymology

The watershed of Cranberry Run has an area of . A large portion of the watershed is in Beaver Township, Columbia County. However, a small area of it is in Roaring Creek Township, Columbia County and a substantial portion is in North Union Township, Schuylkill County. The headwaters of the stream are in

Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 58 Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 58 are Pennsylvania State Game Lands in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. They are one of six State Game Lands in Columbia County and Montour County and are the second-largest of those State ...

, as are part of the rest of the stream. Most of the watershed is forested, but there is some

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

land in the lower reaches of the watershed. Ten percent of the length of Cranberry Run is within 100 meters of a road. 15 percent of the stream's length is within 300 meters of a road and 19 percent is within 500 meters of one. In 1990, the

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of the watershed was 10 people per square kilometer. Cranberry Run is very close to Klingermans Run and the two streams have similar geologies and land uses. Cranberry Run 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 Shumans. Cranberry Run's name comes from the fact that it is in the vicinity of a

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

and that

cranberries Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry m ...

were historically grown near the stream.

Biology

Cranberry Run is considered by the

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws. ...

to be a coldwater fishery. However, no fish have been observed in the stream and it is incapable of supporting fish life due to

acid precipitation Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but aci ...

. Wild brook trout have historically inhabited the stream. There are natural cranberry bogs in the headwaters of Cranberry Run.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Columbia County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Catawissa Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania