Panther Creek is a tributary of Spring Brook in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Thornhurst Township, Clifton Township, and Spring Brook Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . It has one named tributary, which is known as Painter Creek. Panther Creek is considered to be

Class A Wild Trout Waters Class A Wild Trout Waters are the highest biomass class given to streams in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. They are considered to contain the highest-quality naturally reproducing trout populations in Pennsylvania. Th ...

. The surficial geology in its vicinity consists of alluvium, alluvial terrace, Wisconsinan Till, and bedrock.

Course

Panther Creek begins to the west of Panther Hill in Thornhurst Township. It flows north for several tenths of a mile, passing through Clifton Township for a few hundred feet and entering Spring Brook Township. The creek then turns north-northeast for a few tenths of a mile, entering a valley. At this point, it turns north-northwest for several tenths of a mile and receives Painter Creek, its only named 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 flows in a northwesterly direction for several tenths of a mile to its confluence with Spring Brook. Panther Creek joins Spring Brook upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Panther Creek has one named tributary, which is known as Painter Creek. Painter Creek joins Panther Creek upstream of its mouth. Its watershed has an area of .

Hydrology

The concentration of alkalinity in Panther Creek is 4 milligrams per liter.

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 Panther Creek is above sea level. 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 ...

along the lower reaches of Panther Creek consists of alluvium and

alluvial terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial te ...

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 ...

containing conglomeratic sandstone, sandstone, 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 ...

is present slightly further from the creek, as is a glacial or resedimented till known as Wisconsinan Till. Further upstream, the surficial geology consists of bedrock consisting of

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 ...

, shale, and sandstone. Wisconsinan Till is also present in some areas.

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 Panther Creek has an area of . The watershed is in the southwestern part of the Lackawanna River watershed. It is mostly in Spring Brook Township and Thornhurst Township. However, a small corner is in Clifton Township and an even smaller area is in Bear Creek Township, in Luzerne County. The mouth of the creek is in the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of Moscow. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Avoca. A total of 97 percent of the length of Panther Creek is on public land that is open to access. The remaining 3 percent is on private land that is closed to access. The Theta Land Corp. owned land along the creek, but opened it to be public in 2002 by leasing it 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 ...

for $1 per year.

History and recreation

Panther Creek was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1183249. The first sawmill in Spring Brook Township was constructed near the confluence of Panther Creek with Spring Brook, on the latter stream. In the early 2000s, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan recommended that Spring Brook Township include protection of Panther Creek in their comprehensive plans, as well as their ordinances for land use, zoning, and subdivision.

Catch and release Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posed photography as proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooked and returned ...

fishing is permitted on the entire length of Panther Creek.

Biology

Wild trout naturally reproduce in Panther Creek from its headwaters downstream to its mouth. They also do so in the tributary Painter Creek. The entire length of Panther Creek is considered by the

to be Class A Wild Trout Waters for

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

References

{{authority control Rivers of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Spring Brook (Lackawanna River) Rivers of Pennsylvania