Paunnacussing 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 ...

of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

contained wholly within Bucks County,

Pennsylvania 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, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It rises from a pond north of Mechanicsville, in Buckingham Township and drains into the Delaware at Bull Island just upstream of Lumberville in

Solebury Township Solebury Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,709 at the 2020 census. History Migrating English Quakers began to settle down in an area of Buckingham Township. Around 1702, this area was in ...

History

The original inhabitants of the area of Paunnacussing Creek were the

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

people. Later, it became a part of the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...

in 1681. The first mention of the stream was on Cutler's resurvey in 1703. At one time there were several mills along the creek as evidenced by dams along the waterway, which were damaged or destroyed during the great flood of 3 August 1885, which caused severe damage in the village of

Carversville Carversville is an unincorporated community and geographically isolated area in Solebury Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately 45 miles north of Philadelphia. It was originally a Lenape gathering placed called Aqueto ...

, washed out local roads, and destroyed the aqueduct carrying the Delaware Canal over the creek. The cost of replacing the aqueduct was $10,000.MacReynolds, George, ''Place Names in Bucks County, Pennsylvania'', Doylestown, Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, PA, 1942, P289.

Statistics

The Geographic Name Information System I.D. is 1183392, U.S. Department of the Interior Geological Survey I.D. is 03093. The creek's

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 ...

is , and it meets its confluence with the Delaware river's 155.60

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer. They are analogous to vehicle road ...

at an elevation of .http://www.lycoming.edu/cwi/pdfs/paGazetterOfStreams.pdf, page 76

Course

Paunnacussing Creek rises from a pond north of Mechanicsville at an elevation of and starts out northwest oriented, then northeast, turns northwest, and back to northeast. At Carversville, it picks up two unnamed tributaries, one from the right bank, then one from the left. Then is northeast oriented until it passes under the Delaware Canal aqueduct and meets with the Delaware River just upstream of Lumberville across from Bull's Island at an elevation of , resulting in an average slope of .

Geology

Paunnacussing Creek lies in the Stockton Formation of bedrock consisting of arkosic

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) ...

, buff to light-gray, and red to purple-red sandstone,

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 ...

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

, and

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...

laid down during the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

Municipalities

* Bucks County **

** Buckingham Township

Crossings and Bridges

References

{{authority control Rivers of Bucks County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Delaware River Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States