Mouse 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 ...

Schwaben Creek Schwaben Creek is a tributary of Mahanoy Creek in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Schwaben Creek is approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map ...

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 Jordan Township, Washington Township, and Jackson Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . The creek and its tributaries are not designated as impaired waterbodies. Its watershed is at least partially in the

ridge and valley The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending ...

physiographic province. The main land use in the upper reaches of the creek's drainage basin are forested land and agricultural land, but other land uses exist as well. A number of bridges have been constructed across the creek.

Course

Mouse Creek begins in a valley in Jordan Township. It flows west-southwest for several tenths of a mile before turning west for a few tenths of a mile. It then turns west-northwest before turning west. After more than a mile, it turns north, receiving two unnamed tributaries 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 passes through a

water gap A water gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range or mountain ridge and that still carries water today. Such gaps that no longer carry water currents are called wind gaps. Water gaps and wind gaps often offer a prac ...

and enters Washington Township before entering another valley, where it receives 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 west-southwest for a few tenths of a mile before turning west-northwest for several tenths of a mile and entering Washington Township. Here, it crosses

Pennsylvania Route 225 Pennsylvania Route 225 (PA 225) is a state highway located in Dauphin and Northumberland Counties in Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is at an interchange with U.S. Route 22 (US 22)/US 322 in Dauphin. The northern terminus is at PA 61 in S ...

and turns north, flowing through a much narrower valley alongside Pennsylvania Route 225 and receiving two unnamed tributaries (one from the left and one from the right). The creek then turns north-northeast for several tenths of a mile, crossing Pennsylvania Route 225 and reaching its confluence with Schwaben Creek. Mouse Creek joins Schwaben Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology and climate

No stream segment in the watershed of Mouse Creek is designated as an impaired waterbody. The headwaters reach of the creek was selected as the reference watershed for the

Dalmatia Creek Dalmatia Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Lower Mahanoy Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . The creek has no n ...

total maximum daily load A total maximum daily load (TMDL) is a regulatory term in the U.S. Clean Water Act, describing a plan for restoring impaired waters that identifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive while still meeting water quali ...

. In 2001, the water temperature of Mouse Creek at Urban ranged from in two measurements. The discharge ranged from and the

specific conductance Electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allow ...

ranged from 250 to 350 micro-siemens per centimeter at . The creek's pH was slightly alkaline, ranging from 7.7 to 8.4 and the

water hardness Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbo ...

ranged from . In 2001, the concentration of

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 ...

in Mouse Creek at Urban ranged from in two measurements. The

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

concentration ranged from and the

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 ...

concentration ranged between . 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 ranged from . The

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

concentration ranged between . The concentrations of

fluoride Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an inorganic, monatomic anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose salts are typically white or colorless. Fluoride salts typ ...

and

chloride The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts ...

in the creek's filtered water ranged from and . In 2001, the concentrations of recoverable

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

and

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...

in Moue Creek at Urban ranged from and . The concentrations of recoverable

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

and

potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosphe ...

ranged from and . Numerous other

metalloid A metalloid is a type of chemical element which has a preponderance of material property, properties in between, or that are a mixture of, those of metals and nonmetals. There is no standard definition of a metalloid and no complete agreement on ...

s and metals, such as

alkali metal The alkali metals consist of the chemical elements lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K),The symbols Na and K for sodium and potassium are derived from their Latin names, ''natrium'' and ''kalium''; these are still the origins of the names ...

alkaline earth metal The alkaline earth metals are six chemical elements in group 2 of the periodic table. They are beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), and radium (Ra).. The elements have very similar properties: they are al ...

lanthanide The lanthanide () or lanthanoid () series of chemical elements comprises the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers 57–71, from lanthanum through lutetium. These elements, along with the chemically similar elements scandium and yttr ...

transition metal In chemistry, a transition metal (or transition element) is a chemical element in the d-block of the periodic table (groups 3 to 12), though the elements of group 12 (and less often group 3) are sometimes excluded. They are the elements that can ...

s, and

other metal The metallic elements in the periodic table located between the transition metals and the chemically weak nonmetallic metalloids have received many names in the literature, such as ''post-transition metals'', ''poor metals'', ''other metals'' ...

s have been observed in the creek The annual

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 ...

load in the upper reaches of the watershed of Mouse Creek is . Cropland is the largest contributor, at per year. It is followed by hay/pastures at per year, low-intensity development at per year, forested land at annually, transitional land at annually, and streambanks at per year. 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 the creek has a 10 percent chance of reaching and a 2 percent chance of reaching . It has a 1 percent chance of reaching and a 0.2 percent chance of reaching .

Geography, geology, and climate

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 Mouse 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 above sea level. The highest elevations in the creek's watershed are more than above sea level. At least part of the watershed of Mouse Creek is in the

physiographic province. The surface geology in this part of the watershed consists mostly of a

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...

known as

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

, which does not have any significant effect on the sediment loads in the watershed. A mountain known as Hooflander Mountain passes through the watershed of Mouse Creek, as does part of Fisher Ridge. A number of quarries of bluish-black

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

existed in the vicinity of the creek by the late 1800s. The average annual rate of rainfall in the upper reaches of Mouse Creek is . The average annual rate of runoff is .

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 Mouse 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 Pillow. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Klingerstown. The mouth of the creek is located within of Red Cross. The watershed is in the lower reaches of the Mahanoy Creek drainage basin. Mouse Creek is one of the major streams in the watershed of Mahanoy Creek. In the upper of the watershed of Mouse Creek, the dominant

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 h ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

ed land, which makes up 52.0 percent of the land area.

Agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

land, including

cropland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

and hay/pasture land, occupies 42.0 percent of this part of the watershed. Only 5.6 percent is low-intensity development, and only 0.3 percent is transitional land.

History

Mouse 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 1181976. A steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge carrying T-355 over Mouse Creek was repaired in 1994 south of Dornsife and is long. A concrete

tee beam A T-beam (or tee beam), used in construction, is a load-bearing structure of reinforced concrete, wood or metal, with a -shaped cross section. The top of the -shaped cross section serves as a flange or compression member in resisting compressiv ...

bridge carrying State Route 3003 over the creek was built in 1922 southeast of Red Cross and is long. A two-span steel

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

bridge carrying State Route 3003 over the creek was built south of Urban in 1933 and repaired in 1979. This bridge is long. A long steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge carrying State Route 3010 across the creek in Red Cross was constructed in 1946 and repaired in 1973. A steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge with a length of was built over the creek in 1954 east of

Herndon Herndon may refer to: People * Herndon (surname), an American surname * Herndon Davis (1901–1962), American artist, journalist, illustrator, and painter Places in the United States Communities * Herndon, California, an unincorporated commun ...

and was repaired in 1978. A concrete culvert bridge carrying State Route 3005 was built over the creek southeast of Urban in 1974 and is long. A concrete culvert bridge across the creek was built for

in 1986 in Red Cross and is long. Another bridge of the same type and carrying the same highway was built over the creek in 1991 north of Mandata and is long. Mouse Creek experienced

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 ...

ing in June 1972, as did many other streams in the area.

Biology

Mouse Creek is designated as a Trout Stocked Fishery. Mouse Creek has significant forested

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 ...

s, especially in its headwaters. The ridgelines at the boundaries the watershed are also extensively forested. Contour cropping is practiced within the creek's watershed.

References

External links

USGS 404120076461601 Mouse Creek below Urban, PA
{{authority control Rivers of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Mahanoy Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania