Trout 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 Monument Creek in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Spring Brook Township. Wild

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 ...

naturally reproduce in the creek. It has no named tributaries, but does have three unnamed tributaries. The surficial geology in the vicinity of the creek mainly consists of bedrock, Wisconsinan Till, alluvium, fill, wetlands, and lakes.

Course

Trout Creek begins on a mountain in Spring Brook Township. It flows northwest for a short distance before turning north-northeast for a few miles. The creek almost immediately passes through a small pond and begins flowing down the mountain in a valley. It receives 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 ...

and later two more 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 ...

. Its valley then becomes much deeper and narrower and it turns north-northwest for more than a mile. The creek then turns west and a few tenths of a mile further downstream, reaches its confluence with Monument Creek.

Tributaries

Trout Creek has no named tributaries. However, it does have a number of unnamed tributaries. The largest tributary is its first one, which begins in Pittston Township, Luzerne County and flows in a northeasterly direction for nearly a mile to its confluence with Trout Brook.

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 Trout 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. In the lower reaches of Trout Creek, 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 valley floor consists of

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 ...

. The sides of the valley mainly have surficial geology containing

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

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 ...

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) ...

, 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 ...

. Further upstream, the surficial geology along the creek mainly consists of a glacial or resedimented till known as Wisconsinan Till. However, large areas of bedrock and some small patches of fill and

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 ...

s are also present. There is also one small lake in the watershed's upper reaches. Part of Mount Pisgah is in the watershed of Trout Creek.

Watershed and biology

Most of the watershed of Trout Creek is in Spring Brook Township, Lackawanna County. However, a small area of the upper reaches of the watershed is in

Pittston Township Pittston Township is a township in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The population was 3,179 as of the 2020 census. The township is located within the Greater Pittston region. As of 2010, the total population of Greater Pittston was 48,020. The Wilkes ...

, in Luzerne County. Trout 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 Avoca. Wild

naturally reproduce in Trout Creek from its headwaters downstream to its mouth.

History

Trout 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 1189833. In the early 2000s, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan recommended that Spring Brook Township include protection of Trout Creek in their comprehensive plans, as well as their ordinances for land use, zoning, and subdivision.

References