North Branch Bowman 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 ...

Bowman Creek Bowman Creek (also known as Bowmans Creek or Bowman's Creek) is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County and Wyoming County, in Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Ross Township and Lake To ...

in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Fairmount Township and Ross Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . The creek is not designated as an impaired waterbody. The surficial geology in its vicinity includes Wisconsinan Till, alluvial fan, Boulder Colluvium, alluvium, bedrock, and a peat bog. The creek is mostly in

Pennsylvania State Game Lands The Pennsylvania State Game Lands (SGL) are lands managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) for hunting, trapping, and fishing. These lands, often not usable for farming or development, are donated to the PGC or purchased by the PGC with hu ...

and

Ricketts Glen State Park Ricketts Glen State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 13,193 acres (5,280 ha) in Columbia, Luzerne, and Sullivan counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. Ricketts Glen is a National Natural Landmark known for its old-growth fore ...

. The drainage basin of North Branch Bowman Creek is designated as a High-Quality Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. The creek has been stocked with fish in the past, but also has wild trout. There is a hiking trail that is located in its vicinity. An natural lake is situated on the creek.

Course

North Branch Bowman Creek begins in a

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 ...

in Fairmount Township. It flows in a northeasterly direction for a few tenths of a mile before turning south-southeast for several tenths of a mile, entering Ross Township. Here, the creek turns southeast for a few tenths of a mile, passing through a

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 ...

. It then turns south-southwest for a few tenths of a mile before 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 south-southeast and enters a narrow valley before turning south. After several tenths of a mile, it turns southeast, leaving its valley. Several tenths of a mile further downstream, it meets South Branch Bowman Creek to form Bowman Creek. North Branch Bowman Creek joins Bowman Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

North Branch Bowman Creek is not designated as an impaired waterbody. However, in the 1980s, the creek was considered to be vulnerable to acidification.

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 North Branch Bowman 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 is between above sea level. The

surficial geology Superficial deposits (or surficial deposits) refer to geological deposits typically of Quaternary age (less than 2.6 million years old). These geologically recent unconsolidated sediments may include stream channel and floodplain deposits, beach ...

in the vicinity of the lower reaches of North Branch Bowman Creek consists of alluvial fan and

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

. Further upstream, in the creek's valley, there is Boulder

Colluvium Colluvium (also colluvial material or colluvial soil) is a general name for loose, unconsolidated sediments that have been deposited at the base of hillslopes by either rainwash, sheetwash, slow continuous downslope creep, or a variable combinatio ...

, which is rich in

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

s made of

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

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) ...

, or

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

. The valleys of North Branch Bowman Creek and South Branch Bowman Creek are the only places in the Sweet Valley quadrangle where this type of surficial geology occurs. Part of the creek's valley also has surficial geology of

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

consisting of

and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

, which occurs on the valley walls and part of the valley floor. Most of the rest of the surficial geology along the creek consists of a till known as Wisconsinan Till, but there are wetlands and peat bogs as well. A talus deposit with

boulders is located in the vicinity of North Branch Bowman Creek.

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 North Branch Bowman 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 Sweet Valley. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Red Rock. The mouth of the stream is located at Mountain Springs. A lake that was known as Bowmans Pond or Bean Pond in the early 1900s is situated on North Branch Bowman Creek. It is a natural lake with a surface area of . For most of its length, North Branch Bowman Creek is either in

Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 57 Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

. Its mouth is on land belonging to the

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is an independent state agency responsible for the regulation of all fishing and boating in the state of Pennsylvania within the United States of America. Unlike many U.S. states, Pennsylvania has a separ ...

History and recreation

North Branch Bowman 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 1182526. A

hiking trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. The ...

follows North Branch Bowman Creek for a short distance. A road known as Mountain Springs Road is also in the vicinity of the creek. North Branch Bowman Creek has been stocked with

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 ...

in the past, though in 1984, it was said in

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after ''The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its Al ...

that trout stocking was no longer being done there. The creek was stocked as early as 1952. In 1969, the creek was slated to be stocked with 350 brook trout. However, stocking of the creek was cancelled in 1978.

Biology

The drainage basin of North Branch Bowman Creek is designated as a High-Quality Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Wild

naturally reproduce in the creek from its headwaters downstream to its mouth.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Bowman Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania