Lick 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 ...

Shamokin Creek Shamokin Creek (also known as Great Shamokin Creek or Middle Branch Shamokin Creek) is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Mount Carmel, M ...

Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Northumberland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,647. Its county seat is Sunbury. The county was formed in 1772 from parts of Lancas ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Shamokin Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . The creek is not designated as impaired and its watershed is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. It supports some aquatic life.

Course

Lick Creek begins in a valley on a ridge in Shamokin Township. It flows east-northeast for several tenths of a mile before turning north and receiving an unnamed 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 ...

. The creek then turns north for a few tenths of a mile, entering a much broader valley and receiving an unnamed tributary from the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

. The creek then turns east for more than a mile and receives two more unnamed tributaries from the left before turning north-northeast and then east. It then turns northeast for a short distance and crosses

Pennsylvania Route 61 Pennsylvania Route 61 (PA 61) is an state highway in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route is signed on a north–south direction, running from U.S. Route 222 Business (US 222 Bus.) in Reading northwest to US 11/US 15/ ...

before reaching its confluence with Shamokin Creek. Lick Creek joins Shamokin Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Lick Creek has no named tributaries. However, it does have a number of unnamed tributaries. At least one of these is

intermittent Intermittency is a behavior of dynamical systems: regular alternation of phases of apparently periodic and chaotic dynamics. Intermittent or intermittency may also refer to: *Intermittent river or stream, the one that ceases to flow every year or ...

Hydrology, 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 Lick 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 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. Lick Creek is not impacted by mining. The creek has a relatively high level of

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 ...

. All streams in the creek's watershed meet at least one designated use and none are impaired.

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 Lick Creek has an area of . The mouth 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 Shamokin. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Trevorton. The watershed of Lick Creek is in the lower part of the Shamokin Creek drainage basin and in the middle of the latter watershed's northern part.

History

Lick 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 1179280.

Biology

The drainage basin of Lick Creek is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Some aquatic life exists in the creek and it historically contained a healthy aquatic community.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Shamokin Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania