German 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 ...

Little Muncy Creek Little Muncy Creek is the major tributary of Muncy Creek in Lycoming and Sullivan Counties, Pennsylvania, United States. Via Muncy Creek and the West Branch Susquehanna River, it is part of the Susquehanna River drainage basin and waters from it ...

Lycoming County, Pennsylvania Lycoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 114,188. Its county seat is Williamsport. Lycoming County comprises the Williamsport metropolitan statistical area. About northwest ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Franklin Township and Moreland Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . Part of the stream and one of its unnamed tributaries are designated as impaired waterbodies, with the source of the impairment being agriculture. German Run is classified as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

Natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

operations have occurred in the general vicinity of the stream.

Course

German Run begins on a hill between Buck Ridge and Northside Ridge in Franklin Township. It flows south through a valley for several tenths of a mile before receiving an unnamed tributary from the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

and turning west-northwest for several tenths of a mile. In this reach, the stream receives 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 ...

before turning west-southwest for several tenths of a mile, receiving two more unnamed tributaries from the right. It then turns southwest for several tenths of a mile, receiving one unnamed tributary from the left and one from the right before entering Moreland Township. Here, the stream turns west-southwest for several tenths of a mile and its valley becomes much shallower. It receives an unnamed tributary from the left before turning west-northwest. After a few tenths of a mile, the stream turns west-southwest for a few tenths of a mile, leaving its valley. 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 ...

then branches off, quickly joining Little Muncy Creek, while German Run itself turns south-southwest for several tenths of a mile, receiving another unnamed tributary from the left, before turning north and then west, quickly reaching its confluence with Little Muncy Creek. German Run joins Little Muncy Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

A reach of German Run is designated as an impaired waterbody. The causes of the impairment are organic enrichment/low

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 ...

and

sedimentation Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...

siltation Siltation, is water pollution caused by particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the increased accumulation (temporary or ...

. The likely source of the impairment is agriculture. Part or all of an unnamed tributary known as Unt 19501 is also impaired, with the same causes and probable source. The peak 10-year discharge of German Run at its mouth is . The peak 50-year discharge is and the peak 100-year discharge is . The peak 500-year discharge is .

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 German 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 above sea level.

Watershed and biology

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 German 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 Hughesville. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Lairdsville. The mouth of the stream is located within of

Moreland The City of Merri-bek is a local government area in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 11 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. The Merri-bek local government area covers , and in June 2018, ...

. The designated use of German Run is

aquatic life An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem formed by surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The two ...

. The stream is classified as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

History

German 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 1175553. A concrete

tee beam A T-beam (or tee beam), used in construction, is a load-bearing structure of reinforced concrete, wood or metal, with a -shaped cross section. The top of the -shaped cross section serves as a flange or compression member in resisting compressiv ...

bridge carrying State Route 2019 over German Run was built in 1937 east of Clarkstown and is long. A concrete slab bridge carrying State Route 2015 was constructed across the stream south of Lairdsville in 1949 and is long. A concrete culvert bridge carrying State Route 2019 across German Run was constructed in 2009 east of Clarkstown and is long. In 2011, Chief Gathering, LLC. received a permit to build, maintain, and operate a natural gas pipeline crossing several unnamed tributaries of German Run. In 2015,

XTO Energy XTO Energy Inc. is an American energy company and subsidiary of ExxonMobil principally operating in North America. Acquired by ExxonMobil in 2010 and based out of Spring, Texas, it is involved with the production, processing, transportation, and ...

was fined $95,753 after casing and cementing problems in two of its

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

wells in the area caused surface expressions of

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

in German Run and Little Muncy Creek, as well as impacting seven private

water well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. Th ...

References