Stony Run 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 Buffalo Creek in

Union County, Pennsylvania Union County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,681. Its county seat is Lewisburg. The county was created on March 22, 1813, from part of Northumberland County. Its name is an allusio ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through West Buffalo Township and Buffalo Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The stream is impacted by nutrient pollution, sediment, ''

E. coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

'', and thermal radiation. The watershed mostly consists of forested land and agricultural land. It is designated as a High-Quality Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. The stream also has a healthy population of benthic macroinvertebrates.

Course

Stony Run begins in West Buffalo Township. It flows east-southeast through a broad valley that it shares with Rapid Run. After more than a mile, the stream enters Buffalo Township. Here, it turns southeast for several tenths of a mile before 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 southwest for several hundred feet before turning east-southeast again. After several tenths of a mile, it turns southeast and a few tenths of a mile after that, it reaches its confluence with Buffalo Creek. Stony Run joins Buffalo Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

Stony Run is impacted by

nutrient pollution Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters (lakes, rivers and coastal waters), in which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or ...

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 ...

, ''

'', and thermal radiation. In 2000, the

load of Stony Run was , while in 2008, it was . This equates to less than . However, the annual sediment load could in the future be reduced by 68.43 percent to . In 2000,

row crop A row crop is a crop that can be planted in rows wide enough to allow it to be tilled or otherwise cultivated by agricultural machinery, machinery tailored for the seasonal activities of row crops. Such crops are sown by drilling or transplanti ...

s and

streambank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...

erosion contributed of sediment, respectively. A total of came from

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

and

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

s, came from low-density urban land, and came from other sources. In 2000, the load of

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

in Stony Run was and in 2008 it was . This equates to between . The annual load of nitrogen could be reduced by as much as 36.17 percent to . In 2000, of nitrogen came from

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

/subsurface water. Another came from row crops and came from hay and pastures. came from low-density urban land, came from

septic system Onsite sewage facilities (OSSF), also called septic systems, are wastewater systems designed to treat and dispose of effluent on the same property that produces the wastewater, in areas not served by public sewage infrastructure. A septic tank a ...

s, came from streambank erosion, and came from other sources. 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 ...

load of Stony Run in 2000 was and in 2008, it was . This equates to about . However, the phosphorus load could be reduced by 46.22 percent to per year. In 2000, row crops contributed of phosphorus to the stream, while groundwater/subsurface water contributed and hay and pastures contributed . A total of came from low-density urban land, came from septic systems, came from streambank erosion, and came from miscellaneous sources.

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 Stony Run 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 stream'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. There are no

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

s along any streams in the watershed of Stony Run. However, there could eventually be of fences. No stream reach in the watershed has stabilization, but up to could potentially be stabilized. Forest Hill is located near the headwaters of Stony Run. A

debris fan Debris (, ) is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, as in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier, etc. Depending on context, ''debris'' can refer to ...

from the late

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

occurs in the vicinity of Stony Run.

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 Stony Run has an area of . The stream 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 Mifflinburg. There are a total of of streams within the watershed. Of these, are on agricultural land. The mouth of the stream is near

Cowan Cowan or Cowans may refer to: Places Australia * Cowan, New South Wales * Cowan Creek, a waterway to the north of Sydney, Australia * Division of Cowan, a federal division of the Australian House of Representatives, in Western Australia * Hundr ...

. A total of 61 percent of the watershed of Stony Run is on

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. Another 32 percent is on

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 and 3 percent is on impervious surfaces. The area of land on impervious surfaces could potentially rise to 30 percent. The agricultural land in the watershed includes of row crops and of hay and pastures. None of the agricultural land in the watershed of Stony Run is on slopes of more than 3 percent. There are no

unpaved road Unpaved roads may refer to: * Dirt roads * Gravel roads A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the ru ...

s in the stream's watershed. The watershed of Stony Run makes up 1 percent of the Buffalo Creek drainage basin.

History

Stony Run 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 1188794. The John Umstead tract, which was located along Stony Run, was surveyed by Thomas Sutherland on May 17, 1770. In a 2008 report, the watershed of Stony Run was ranked tenth amongst sub-watersheds in the Buffalo Creek drainage basin for restoration priority.

Biology

The drainage basin of Stony Run is designated as a High-Quality Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. The stream has a population of

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

macroinvertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate s ...

s that has been described as "healthy". There are of vegetated

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 along streams in the watershed of Stony Run. The

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

load in Stony Run is on the order of 6.842 × 10¹⁵ organisms per month. The largest contributor of pathogens is urban areas (6.738 × 10¹⁵ organisms per month). Farm animals contribute 1.034 × 10¹⁴ organisms per month, septic systems contribute 3.287 × 10¹¹ organisms per month, and wildlife contributes 1.745 × 10¹¹ organisms per month. The pathogen load could in the future be reduced by 1.16 percent to 6.762 × 10¹⁵ organisms per month.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Union County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Buffalo Creek (West Branch Susquehanna River) Rivers of Pennsylvania