Glen Brook is a tributary of East Branch Briar Creek in

Luzerne County Luzerne County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county by total area. As of ...

and Columbia County, in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Salem Township in Luzerne County and Briar Creek Township and Berwick in Columbia County. Its watershed has an area of . A number of

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

s and

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s have been built on the creek and two major bridges cross it. The stream lies over mudstone, siltstone, limestone, sandstone and shale. Glen Brook is slightly alkaline, with a median pH of 7.37. The median water temperature of the stream is . It is 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 ...

and is considered to be

Class A Wild Trout Waters Class A Wild Trout Waters are the highest biomass class given to streams in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. They are considered to contain the highest-quality naturally reproducing trout populations in Pennsylvania. Th ...

Course

Glen Brook begins on the southern side of Lee Mountain in Salem Township, Luzerne County. It flows east-southeast for a short distance before turning southwest and flowing into a valley. After approximately a mile, it enters Briar Creek Township, Columbia County and receives an unnamed tributary. It then turns south-southeast for several tenths of a mile, passing the Glen Brook Number Four Dam. Near the border between Columbia County and Luzerne County, the stream turns southwest and flows into Foundryville, where it makes a sharp turn east and then west, entering Berwick. In Berwick, it turns west-northwest and then southwest, roughly following the northern border of the borough. After several tenths of a mile, the stream leaves Berwick and returns to Briar Creek Township. A short distance later, it reaches its confluence with East Branch Briar Creek. Glen Brook joins East Branch Briar Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

The discharge of Glen Brook ranges from 0.58 to 60.2 cubic feet per second. The median discharge is 4.915 cubic feet per second. The water temperature of the stream ranges from to . The median water temperature is . The

electric conductance The electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the flow of electric current. Its reciprocal quantity is , measuring the ease with which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels ...

of the stream's waters ranges from 68 to 266 milli-siemens, with a median of 96 milli-siemens. The minimum pH of Glen Brook is 7.06 and the median pH is 7.37. The maximum pH is 7.79. 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 ...

in the stream ranges from 35 to 145 parts per million, with a median of 49 parts per million. The 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 ...

in the waters of the stream is 16 milligrams per liter. In a visual assessment by the Briar Creek Association for Watershed Solutions, Cabin Run was given a score of 7.0 on a scale of 1 to 10. It scored best (10 on a scale of 1 to 10) on fish barriers and canopy coverage and it scored worst (3 on a scale of 1 to 10) for

streambank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...

stability and

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 ...

ing. Of ten sites in the Briar Creek watershed, this location has a priority rank of 6. Glen Brook sometimes has high levels of

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Glen 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 source is just under above sea level. The mouth of Glen Brook and the land in its vicinity lies over

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. The rest of the lower reaches of the watershed are over

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

. The middle portion and most of the upper portion are on

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

. Most of the rest of the watershed's upper reaches lie over

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...

. Its uppermost reaches, however, lie on

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

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 ...

s in the watershed of Glen Brook include the Chenango

Series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

, which is a well-drained and highly acidic

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 ...

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

that is found in the stream's lower reaches. A number of other soils are also found in the watershed.

Watershed

The watershed of Glen Brook has an area of . The watershed is the easternmost sub-watershed of the watershed of Briar Creek. At least two

s are on Glen Brook. These are known as the Glen Brook Number One Dam and the Glen Brook Number Four Dam. A number of

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 ...

s cross Glen Brook. One of these is a

concrete slab A concrete slab is a common structural element of modern buildings, consisting of a flat, horizontal surface made of cast concrete. Steel- reinforced slabs, typically between 100 and 500 mm thick, are most often used to construct floors and ...

bridge at the Glen Brook Reservoir. It was built in 1937 and is long. A bridge carrying State Route 1029 was built over the stream north of Berwick in 1989. This bridge is long.

History and etymology

was constructed on Glen Brook in 1890. In the early 1900s, the stream supplied water for the Briar Creek Township, the boroughs of Berwick and Nescopeck, and the village of North Berwick via the Berwick Water Company. It was one of three streams that the company used as a water supply. In the early 1900s, there were two artificial

s on Glen Brook north of Berwick. A third one was under construction around this time. Glen Brook is so-named because it flows through a

glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

Biology

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 ...

reproduce naturally on Glen Brook. The stream is considered by the

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is an independent state agency responsible for the regulation of all fishing and boating in the state of Pennsylvania within the United States of America. Unlike many U.S. states, Pennsylvania has a separ ...

to be Class A Wild Trout Waters for both

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

and

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

References

{{authority control Rivers of Columbia County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania