Leach 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 drai ...
of
Leggetts Creek
Leggetts Creek (also known as Legget Creek, Leggett's Gap Creek, Leggits Creek and originally as Liggett's Creek) is a tributary of the Lackawanna River in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flow ...
in
Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
Lackawanna County (; unm, Lèkaohane) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania and had a population of 215,896 as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is Scranton.
The county ...
, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through
Scranton
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...
.
The watershed of the creek has an area of . The creek loses substantial amounts of water to underground mine pools. The creek is in the Coal Region and has been channelized and/or culvertized in some reaches. It flows alongside Pennsylvania Route 307 for a substantial part of its length. The creek has a riparian buffer in its upper and middle reaches, but various invasive plants grow along its banks in its lower reaches.
Course
Leach Creek begins in a pond in a deep valley near Morgan Manor in Scranton. It flows southeast alongside
Pennsylvania Route 307
Pennsylvania Route 307 (PA 307) is a north–south route of the Pennsylvania Highway System that runs for . The southern terminus is PA 435 in Covington Township and the northern terminus is PA 92 in Tunkhannock Township. The highway is ...
before turning south and continuing to flow alongside that highway. After a few tenths of a mile, the creek turns southeast again and receives South Branch Leach Creek, its only named tributary, from the
right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of 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 convention, or ethical ...
. It then turns south-southeast for several tenths of a mile and crosses Pennsylvania Route 307 before turning east and crossing
US Route 11. After several tenths of a mile, the creek reaches its confluence with Leggetts Creek.
Leach Creek joins Leggetts Creek upstream of its mouth.
Hydrology
Leach Creek experiences a measurable amount of flow loss to underground mine pools via cracks in the bedrock.
This water contributes to the Marvine Pool and the Stoors Pool.
It typically, but not always, lacks any base flow.
Several establishments discharge
stormwater into the creek. There are an estimated two stormwater detention facilities in the watershed. The creek experiences extreme
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 ...
and
embeddedness
In economics and economic sociology, embeddedness refers to the degree to which economic activity is constrained by non-economic institutions. The term was created by economic historian Karl Polanyi as part of his substantivist approach. Polanyi ...
in its lower reaches.
The city of Scranton applied for a permit to discharge stormwater into the creek.
In the early 1900s, Leach Creek was found to be a clear stream above the Cayuga Shaft, where mine water flowed into the creek. From that point downstream, culm in the water deposited on the banks and streambed. In 1948, the creek was found to lose between 968 and 1319 gallons of water per minute to mines.
At its mouth, the peak annual
discharge of Leach Creek has a 10 percent chance of reaching 430 cubic feet per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching 1000 cubic feet per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching 1360 cubic feet per second. It has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching 2760 cubic feet per second.
Like many other streams in the area, the creek is prone to
flash floods.
Geography and geology
The elevation near the
mouth of Leach 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 standardise ...
.
The elevation of the creek'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 between above sea level.
Leach Creek is in the
Anthracite Region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
. It flows through
coal measures and is a typical example of such a stream.
The
surficial geology along the lower reaches of the creek mainly consists of urban land, Wisconsinan Till, and
surface mining land. The upper reaches of the creek are near urban land, Wisconsinan Till, and
bedrock consisting of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
,
conglomerate,
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.
A small
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 p ...
pond forms the headwaters of Leach Creek.
In its lower reaches, the creek is culvertized by a stone arch culvert in one reach and flows through a tall, narrow stone channel under a
culm pile in one reach.
Garbage has been dumped along the stream in its lower reaches. In its lower reaches, it has been
riprap
Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...
ed and flows through a
flood control
Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...
debris basin
Debris flows are geological phenomena in which water-laden masses of soil and fragmented rock rush down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form thick, muddy deposits on valley floors. They generally ...
.
The debris basin was constructed by the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws. ...
and prevents flooding on Bloom Street.
Leach Creek flows over
cobbles in some reaches. The creek flows through 49
pipes
Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to:
Objects
* Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules
** Piping, the use of pipes in industry
* Smoking pipe
** Tobacco pipe
* Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...
, with sizes ranging from .
Watershed
The
watershed of Leach Creek 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 Scranton.
The creek is a
second-order stream.
Most of the watershed is in Scranton. However, substantial areas of it are in
South Abington Township,
Ransom Township, and
Newton Township.
Leach Creek is highly urbanized and may be
channelized in some locations. Neighborhoods in the creek's vicinity include Morgan Manor, Allied Services, and Keyser Oak Plaza.
Land use
Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...
s in the watershed include low-density residential, industrial, and commercial.
A patch 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 p ...
occurs in the southwestern part of the watershed and a smaller patch is located near the center of the watershed.
For a substantial of its length, Leach Creek is in the vicinity of
Pennsylvania Route 307
Pennsylvania Route 307 (PA 307) is a north–south route of the Pennsylvania Highway System that runs for . The southern terminus is PA 435 in Covington Township and the northern terminus is PA 92 in Tunkhannock Township. The highway is ...
. A cemetery, a medical services complex, and a condominium are also in the creek's vicinity. However, there is little development directly along the creek's banks in its upper and middle reaches. In the creek's lower reaches, it is heavily impacted by urban development. It flows past the Keyser-Oak Shopping
Mall in this reach.
Major roads in the watershed of Leach Creek include Pennsylvania Route 307, Market Street, Morgan Manor Drive, Moffat Drive, Yard Avenue, Keyser Avenue, Bloom Avenue, McDonough Avenue, and the
North Scranton Expressway.
History
Leach Creek was redirected under Keyser Avenue in 1909.
A concrete
culvert bridge carrying Pennsylvania Route 307 over Leach Creek was built in 1969 in Scranton. This bridge is long.
Historic places in the watershed of Leach Creek include the Cayuga Vault.
A $100,000 Leach Creek Basin Maintenance Project has been proposed.
Biology
Leach Creek has a stable
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 ...
in its upper and middle reaches. However, in its lower reaches the riparian area is almost nonexistent and is overgrown with
invasive plants.
In this reach, the
understory
In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abo ...
is dominated by
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 ...
and the canopy is dominated by
Ailanthus and
Norway maple
''Acer platanoides'', commonly known as the Norway maple, is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia, from Spain east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran. It was introduced to ...
. The riparian buffer mainly consists of one line of trees. The aquatic habitat of the creek would require significant restoration efforts to be repaired.
The entire length of Leach Creek is a Trout Stocked Fishery.
See also
*
Clover Hill Creek, next tributary of Leggetts Creek going upstream
*
List of rivers of Pennsylvania
This is a list of streams and rivers in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name.
Delaware Bay
Chesapeake Bay
*'' ...
*
List of tributaries of the Lackawanna River
The Lackawanna River is a long river flowing into the Susquehanna River with 65 named tributaries, of which 33 are direct tributaries. The river flows through Susquehanna, Lackawanna, and Luzerne Counties in Pennsylvania. The shortest tribut ...
References
External links
Google Street View image of Leach Creek
{{authority control
Rivers of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
Tributaries of the Lackawanna River
Rivers of Pennsylvania