Kehly Run (also known as Kahly 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 ...

of Shenandoah Creek in

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Schuylkill County (, ; Pennsylvania Dutch: Schulkill Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the heart of Pennsylvania's Coal Region and is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the popula ...

, in the United States. It is less than long and flows through West Mahanoy Township and possibly Shenandoah. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The stream is located within the

Western Middle Anthracite Field The Western Middle Anthracite Field is a large basin containing veins of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania. The region is in the Appalachian Mountains and is the third-largest anthracite field in the anthracite region in Eastern Pennsylvania behind ...

. A number of dams have been constructed across it. The stream is classified as a Coldwater Fishery and has

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 s ...

s, but no fish.

Course

Kehly Run begins in Fetter Pond in West Mahanoy Township. It flows west for several hundred feet, passing through another pond and entering Number Six Reservoir. From the southern end of this reservoir, the stream turns south-southeast for several tenths of a mile, passing near Number Five Reservoir, crossing Pennsylvania Route 924, and entering a valley. In this valley, the creek flows in a generally southerly direction for several tenths of a mile, passing through Kehly Run Reservoir Number Three and Number Two Reservoir. Towards the lower reaches of this valley, in West Mahanoy Township, or possibly at or shortly after its end, in Shenandoah, the stream reaches its confluence with or becomes Shenandoah Creek. Kehly Run joins Shenandoah Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

Kehly Run is designated as an impaired waterbody. The stream is impacted by

abandoned mine drainage Abandoned mine drainage (also known as AMD) is a form of water pollution involving water that has been polluted by contact with mines, typically coal mines. Although it is sometimes called "acid mine drainage", not all abandoned mine drainage i ...

. However, it has been described as having "very good"

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 ...

at site S11, in its upper reaches. In the late 1800s, the stream was described as having once been a stream of "good, soft, pure mountain water". In March 2001, the discharge of Kehly Run was measured to be , while in August 2001, it was . The

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 ...

concentration was in March and August 2001, respectively. In March 2001, the pH was 4.7 and the net

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 ...

concentration was , while in August 2001, the pH was 4.8 and the net alkalinity concentration was . The concentration of dissolved

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

in Kehly Run was in March 2001 and in August 2001. The dissolved

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

concentrations in the stream were in March and in August. In March 2001, the concentration of dissolved

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 ...

in Kehly Run was less than , while the concentration in August 2001 was . The concentration of dissolved

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

was less than in both March and August 2001. The

sulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...

concentration was in March and August 2001, respectively.

Geography and geology

The elevation of the

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 ...

of Kehly 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 stream is situated entirely within the

. There is some abandoned mine land in the vicinity of the stream's upper reaches. The dried

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 ...

of Kehly Run was light olive brown in the

Munsell color system In colorimetry, the Munsell color system is a color space that specifies colors based on three properties of color: hue (basic color), chroma (color intensity), and value ( lightness). It was created by Professor Albert H. Munsell in the first ...

. A

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 ...

known as the Kehly Run Dam No. 3 is , about high, and is made of earth and rockfill. In 1980, the dam was judged to be in fair condition. There are three reservoirs further upstream and one pool further downstream.

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 Kehly Run has an area of . The stream is entirely within 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 Shenandoah. The watershed of Kehly Run occupies a total of approximately 1 percent of the

Mahanoy Creek Mahanoy 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 Northumberland and Schuylkill counties, Pennsylvania. There are ...

drainage basin. The watershed is located near the northeastern corner of the Shenandoah Creek watershed and in the upper part of the Mahanoy Creek watershed.

History

Kehly 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 1178301. The stream is also known as Kahly Run. This variant name appears in a 1975 highway map of Schuylkill County, published by the

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...

. In 2007, environmental assessments were proposed or made for the breaching of five dams in the watershed of Kehly Run.

Biology

In 2001, no fish were observed in Kehly Run near Shenandoah, but

s were observed. A total of ten macroinvertebrate taxa were observed. ''

Hydropsychidae The Hydropsychidae are a family-level taxon consisting of net-spinning caddisflies. Hydropsychids are common among much of the world's streams, and a few species occupy the shorelines of freshwater lakes. Larvae of the hydropsychids construct ...

'' was classified as "abundant", with 25 to 100 individuals being observed. '' Leuctridae'' and ''

Simuliidae A black fly or blackfly (sometimes called a buffalo gnat, turkey gnat, or white socks) is any member of the family Simuliidae of the Culicomorpha infraorder. It is related to the Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. Over 2,200 speci ...

'' were classified as "common", with 10 to 24 individuals being observed. The taxa ''

Cordulegastridae The Cordulegastridae are a family of Odonata (dragonflies) from the suborder Anisoptera. They are commonly known as spiketails. Some vernacular names for the species of this family are biddie and flying adder. They have large, brown or black bodi ...

'' and '' Crydalidae'' were classified as "present", with three to nine individuals being observed. Another several taxa''

Aeshnidae The Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies. The family includes the largest dragonflies found in North America and Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its o ...

'', ''

Calopterygidae The Calopterygidae are a family of damselflies, in the suborder Zygoptera. They are commonly known as the broad-winged damselflies, demoiselles, or jewelwings. These rather large damselflies have wingspans of 50–80 mm (compared to about 44 ...

'', ''

Tipulidae Crane fly is a common name referring to any member of the insect family (biology), family Tipulidae. Cylindrotominae, Limoniinae, and Pediciinae have been ranked as subfamilies of Tipulidae by most authors, though occasionally elevated to family ...

'', ''

Cambaridae The Cambaridae are the largest of the four families of freshwater crayfish, with over 400 Species. Most of the species in the family are native the United States east of the Great Divide and Mexico, but fewer range north to Canada, and south to ...

'' were "rare", with only one or two individuals of each being observed. A small number of miscellaneous individuals from ''

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

'' were observed.

Second-growth forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. I ...

occurs in the vicinity of some reaches of Kehly Run. The family-level

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 ...

value of the stream was 4.14. Historically, Kehly Run was used as a

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 ...

-fishing stream. The stream is classified as a Coldwater Fishery.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Mahanoy Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania

Course

Hydrology

Geography and geology

Watershed

History

Biology

See also

References