Huntsville 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 ...

Toby Creek Toby Creek (also known as Toby's Creek) is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Dallas Township, Dallas, Kingston Township, Courtdale, Luzerne ...

in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Dallas Township,

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Lehman Township, Jackson Township, and Kingston Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . It is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Wisconsinan Till, Wisconsinan Ice-Contact Stratified Drift, alluvium, sandstone and shale pits, and bedrock consisting of sandstone and shale all occur in the watershed. A 2-billion gallon reservoir known as the Huntsville Reservoir is situated on the creek. The reservoir supplies water to 30,000 people. The creek has one named tributary, which is known as Browns Creek.

Course

Huntsville Creek in a small

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

at the base of a hill in Dallas Township. It flows south for a short distance before turning south-southwest and passing through a larger pond. The creek then turns south again for several tenths of a mile, entering Dallas, then reentering Dallas Township, then reentering Dallas. It then turns south-southwest for several tenths of a mile before turning south-southeast near the border between Dallas and Lehman Township. After a few tenths of a mile, it enters an arm of the Huntsville Reservoir and turns east. After a short distance, the arm gradually turns southwest and enters the main body of the reservoir. The creek then turns south and exits the reservoir after slightly more than a mile. It continues flowing south and enters Jackson Township. In this township, the creek flows south for a few tenths of a mile before turning east-southeast for a few miles. It then receives Browns Creek, its only named 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 ...

. At this point, the creek turns east-northeast and flows alongside Larksville Mountain for several tenths of a mile. It then flows east-southeast for a few tenths of a mile until it reaches its confluence with Toby Creek. Huntsville Creek joins Toby Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Huntsville Creek has one named tributary, which is known as Browns Creek. Browns Creek joins Huntsville Creek upstream of its mouth. Its watershed has an area of .

Hydrology

At the border between Jackson Township and Kingston Township, the peak annual

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

of Huntsville Creek has a 10 percent chance of reaching 1050 cubic feet per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching 1850 cubic feet per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching 2300 cubic feet per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching 3850 cubic feet per second. At the confluence of the tributary Browns Creek, the peak annual discharge of Huntsville Creek has a 10 percent chance of reaching 475 cubic feet per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching 850 cubic feet per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching 1100 cubic feet per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching 1800 cubic feet per second. In 1974, the

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

of Huntsville Creek was described as "depressed" from the Huntsville Filter Plant downstream to its mouth. However, it is not considered to be impaired.

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 Huntsville 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 source is between above sea level. Huntsville Creek is

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 ...

med by the Huntsville Dam. In the late 1970s, it was owned by the

Pennsylvania Gas and Water Company 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, Maryl ...

. A 1978 inspection judged the dam to be in good condition. Most of the surficial geology in the vicinity of Huntsville Creek features a glacial or resedimented till known as Wisconsinan Till and

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

consisting of

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) ...

and

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 ...

. However, Wisconsinan Ice-Contact Stratified Drift occurs in some parts of the watershed, especially in its lower reaches.

Alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

is also found in some areas and there is one patch of sandstone and shale pits.

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 Huntsville Creek has an area 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 Kingston. Upstream of the tributary Browns Creek, the watershed of Huntsville Creek has an area of . Huntsville Creek is the main source of flooding in Jackson Township. There are several patches of

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

and a number of lakes in the watershed. The Pennsylvania American Water Company owns property along Huntsville Creek. A reservoir known as the Huntsville Reservoir is situated in the watershed of Huntsville Creek. It has a capacity of 1.9 billion gallons and supplies water to 30,000 people in Dallas, Kingston Township, Swoyersville, West Wyoming, and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. The watershed of Huntsville Creek is considerably less developed than areas along 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 Toby Creek. However, the watershed is beginning to urbanize. A planned natural gas well site is located in the vicinity of Huntsville Creek.

History

Huntsville 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 1177637. A

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

slab bridge was built over Huntsville Creek in 1927. It is long and carries CR 16/Hillside Road. A prestressed box beam bridge was constructed over the creek in 1975. It is long and carries T615/Gross Road. A bridge carrying Chase Road over the creek in Jackson Township was slated for replacement in 2013. The bridge was 90 or more years old. The largest

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 ...

in Jackson Township occurred in 1972. At the eastern border of the township, the discharge of Huntsville Creek was 1650 cubic feet per second. Floodwaters were deep on Chase Road upstream of the tributary Browns Creek. Huntsville Creek also overflowed its banks on February 15, 2013. It was one of the few creeks in Luzerne County to do so during that flooding event. In 2000, as many as 5500 gallons of

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

escaped from a ruptured

pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

in the vicinity of the watershed of Huntsville Creek. Three streams were contaminated by the gasoline leak the tributary Browns Creek, a tributary of Browns Creek, and Huntsville Creek itself. Of these, Huntsville Creek was the least impacted stream.

Biology

The entire drainage basin of Huntsville Creek is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

Japanese Knotweed ''Reynoutria japonica'', synonyms ''Fallopia japonica'' and ''Polygonum cuspidatum'', is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Common names include Japanese knotweed and Asian knotweed. It is ...

, an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

, has been observed on the banks of Huntsville Creek. This plant was at one point contributing to streambank

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

on the creek. However, in 2010 the

Pennsylvania Environmental Council 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, Maryl ...

received a grant to remove the Japanese Knotweed and replace it with a riparian buffer consisting of native trees and shrubs.

References

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