Hermesprota Creek is a tributary of Darby Creek in Collingdale, Sharon Hill, Darby Township, and Folcroft in

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylvan ...

. Its watershed has an area of .

Course

Hermesprota Creek begins in the Har Zion Cemetery near the community of

Collingdale, Pennsylvania Collingdale is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The population was 8,908, at the 2020 census. Local governance Donna Matteo-Spadea is the current mayor of Collingdale. Frank Kelly served twelve consecutive four-year terms as Mayor of ...

. It flows south-southeast for several tenths of a mile before passing under

U.S. Route 13 U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a north–south U.S. highway established in 1926 that runs for from Interstate 95 (I-95) just north of Fayetteville, North Carolina to US 1 in the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Morrisville. ...

and turns west and enters

Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania Sharon Hill is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,697 at the 2010 census. Currently the population stands at 6,356 residents. Government The government of Sharon Hill operates under the Pennsylvania ...

. The creek turns south and enters the communities of Darby Township and Folcroft. Hermesprota Creek then enters the

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge The John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum is a 1000-acre (4.05 km2) National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia and Tinicum Township, Pennsylvania. Adjacent to Philadelphia International Airport, the refuge is designed to the largest ...

and receives two small unnamed tributaries, from the right and left banks respectively. After several hundred feet, it reaches its confluence with Darby Creek. Hermesprota Creek joins Darby Creek upriver of its mouth.

Hydrology

The water quality of Hermesprota Creek is poor. High amounts of lead, selenium, and zinc were found in sediment in the creek. Hazardous materials were dumped into the creek from 1953 to the 1970s, when the adjacent Folcroft Landfill was closed. The southern part of the creek is tidally influenced.

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 Hermesprota 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 of the creek's

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is between above sea level.

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 Hermesprota Creek has an area of . The entire 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 Lansdowne.

History

Hermesprota 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 1176873. Several

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 have been built across Hermesprota Creek. A concrete arch bridge with a length of carries Folcroft Avenue over the creek and was built in 1925. A 24.9-foot-long concrete slab bridge was built in 1932 and carries Tribbitt Avenue across the creek.

Biology

The drainage basin of Hermesprota Creek is a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Recreational fishing occurs in the creek. It is in a NOAA habitat of concern.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Delaware County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Pennsylvania Tributaries of Darby Creek (Pennsylvania)