Deep Creek 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 ...

Mahantango Creek Mahantango Creek 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 Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin, Northumberland County, P ...

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Dauphin County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Daffin Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 286,401. The county seat and the largest city is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital and nint ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Lykens Township and

Pillow A pillow is a support of the body at rest for comfort, therapy, or decoration. Pillows are used in different variations by many species, including humans. Some types of pillows include throw pillows, body pillows, decorative pillows, and man ...

. The watershed of the creek has an area of . It is not designated as an impaired waterbody, but is nevertheless observed to have high nitrate concentrations. Major land uses in the creek's watershed include agricultural land and forested land. The creek's watershed is classified as a Warmwater Fishery.

Course

Deep Creek begins in a pond in Lykens Township. It flows north for several tenths of a mile, passing through three more ponds, before turning west-northwest. After several tenths of a mile, the creek turns west-southwest for several tenths of a mile before receiving an unnamed tributary from the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

and heading in a westerly direction for several tenths of a mile. In this reach, it receives one unnamed tributary from the right and one from the left. It then meanders west-northwest for several tenths of a mile before turning west-southwest for more than a mile. In this reach, the creek receives one unnamed tributary from the right and one from the left. It eventually makes several

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...

s in a northwesterly direction, receiving three unnamed tributaries from the left and one from the right. The creek then flows north-northwest through a

water gap A water gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range or mountain ridge and that still carries water today. Such gaps that no longer carry water currents are called wind gaps. Water gaps and wind gaps often offer a prac ...

Mahantango Mountain Mahantango is an alternate spelling of ''Mahantongo'', a Lenape word, translated "where we had plenty of meat to eat" or "good hunting grounds." Mahantango may refer to: *Mahantango Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Dauphin, Northumbe ...

for a few tenths of a mile, entering Pillow. Here, an unnamed

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

of the creek splits off from the left bank to the north and the creek itself turns north-northeast. A few tenths of a mile further downstream, it reaches its confluence with Mahantango Creek. Deep Creek joins Mahantango Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

Deep Creek is not designated as an impaired waterbody as of 2004. However, the Dauphin County conservation District has observed that nitrate concentrations in the creek are among the highest in Dauphin County. It is also likely that

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

loads are relatively high.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Deep Creek 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 near the creek'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 above sea level. Deep Creek cuts through

on its course. This makes the creek's watershed one of the few areas where the watershed of Mahantango Creek extend south of Mahantango Mountain.

Watershed and biology

The watershed of Deep Creek has an area of . The mouth of the creek 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 Pillow. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Lykens. The creek also passes through the quadrangle of Klingerstown. Its mouth is located at

. The main

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long h ...

in the upper reaches of the watershed of Deep Creek is agricultural land. However, there are blocks of various other land uses in this area as well. In the lower reaches, forested land dominates, except for an area in the vicinity of the creek's mouth. Deep Creek is one of the main tributaries of Mahantango Creek in Dauphin County, along with Pine Creek.

History

Deep Creek 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 1173058. A

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven b ...

and a

saw mill 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 ( dimens ...

historically existed on Deep Creek. A concrete frame bridge carrying State Route 1009/N. Cross Road over Deep Creek was constructed south of Pillow in 1985 and is long. In 2013, it was proposed that the $610,432 Growing Greener County Environmental Initiative Program be redesignated to several projects, including the protection and repair of stream banks along the creek. In 2015, a permit was issued to discharge stormwater into Deep Creek during construction operations.

Biology

The drainage basin of Deep Creek is classified as a Warmwater Fishery.

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 ...

samples from the creek encountered eleven types per sample, but only four that were pollution-sensitive. Deep Creek generally lacks adequate

riparian buffer A riparian buffer or stream buffer is a vegetated area (a " buffer strip") near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect the stream from the impact of adjacent land uses. It plays a key role in increasing water quality i ...

s, although the

main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow.. A ...

of Mahantango Creek has greater buffering. In 2008, a site on the creek near Luxembourg Road was classified as being in "poor" health.

Hilsenhoff Biotic Index The Hilsenhoff Biotic Index (HBI) is a quantitative method of evaluating the abundance of arthropod fauna in stream ecosystems as a measurement of estimating water quality based on the predetermined pollution tolerances of the observed taxa. This bi ...

values indicated that organic pollution in the watershed was likely.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Mahantango Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania