Middle Branch Newport 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 ...

Newport Creek Newport Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is in length. Named tributaries of the creek include South Branch Newport Creek. The entire watershed of Newport Creek is considered b ...

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county by total area. As of ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Newport Township. The creek is in the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of Nanticoke. It is considered to be impaired by abandoned mine drainage for . The creek was listed as an impaired stream in 2004.

Course

Middle Branch Newport Creek begins in Newport Township, on the border of

Glen Lyon Glen Lyon ( gd, Gleann Lìomhann) is a glen in the Perth and Kinross region of Scotland. It is the longest enclosed glen in Scotland and runs for from Loch Lyon in the west to the village of Fortingall in the east. This glen was also kno ...

. It flows east for several hundred feet before turning north-northeast for a few tenths of a mile, crossing West Kirmar Ave/East Main Street. The creek then turns northeast again for some distance and passes near a number of 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 ...

s before turning nearly due north for several hundred feet. At this point, it leaves the border of Glen Lyon and flows northeast before briefly turning northwest and reaching its confluence with Newport Creek.

Hydrology

A total of of Middle Branch Newport Creek are considered 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. ...

to be impaired by pH problems due to

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 ...

Geology and geography

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 Middle Branch Newport 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. The watershed of Newport Creek, which Middle Branch Newport Creek is situated within, is located in the southwestern portion of the

Wyoming Valley The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The region is historically notable for its influence in helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution with its many anthracite coal-mines. As a metropolitan are ...

. The creek's mouth is at the eastern edge of a mine sheet known as Sheet II. The mouth of Middle Branch Newport Creek was historically in Conyngham Township, approximately west of the Conyngham Township/Newport Township line.

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 dea ...

and

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

occur along both sides of Middle Branch Newport Creek at the Shoemaker Drift.

Watershed

Middle Branch Newport Creek 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 Nanticoke. The creek is designated for use by

aquatic life An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem formed by surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The tw ...

. Its watershed is one of several sub-watersheds in the watershed of Newport Creek. Other sub-watersheds in the watershed of Newport Creek include

South Branch Newport Creek South Branch Newport Creek is a tributary of Newport Creek in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is long. The entire watershed of the creek is considered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to be impaired ...

and Reservoir Creek. The 1887 ''Annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Pennsylvania'' described the creek as flowing through a

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

and passing by the Miller and Uplinger farms.

History

Middle Branch Newport 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 January 1, 1990. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1202398. The creek is on Patton's Philadelphia and Suburbs Street and Road Map, which was published in 1984. Middle Branch Newport Creek was listed as an impaired stream in 2004. Its

TMDL 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 ...

date is 2017.

References

External links

Map of Middle Branch Newport CreekMiddle Branch Newport Creek on historicmapworks.com
{{authority control Rivers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania