Trout Run is a tributary of

East Branch Fishing Creek East Branch Fishing Creek is a tributary of Fishing Creek in Columbia County and Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is long. The stream and its tributaries are acidic and contain aluminum. The area in the vicinity was firs ...

Sullivan County, Pennsylvania Sullivan County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,840, making it the second-least populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Laporte ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Davidson Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The stream is acidic and is considered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to be impaired by atmospheric deposition and metals. Rock formations in the watershed include the

Catskill Formation The Devonian Catskill Formation or the Catskill Clastic wedge is a unit of mostly terrestrial sedimentary rock found in Pennsylvania and New York. Minor marine layers exist in this thick rock unit (up to ). It is equivalent to the Hampshire For ...

and the

Huntley Mountain Formation The Huntley Mountain Formation is a late Devonian and early Mississippian mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, in the United States. Description The formation is composed of relatively soft grayish-red shale and olive-gray sandstone. It is lo ...

. Soils in the watershed include the Deep-Wellsboro-Oquaga and Oquaga soil associations.

Course

Trout Run begins on a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

in Davidson Township. It flows west-northwest for a short distance before turning southwest and entering a valley, which it flows through for some distance. At the end of the valley, the stream turns southwest and then south. After a short distance, it reaches its confluence with East Branch Fishing Creek. Trout Run joins East Branch Fishing Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Trout Run has no named tributaries. It does, however, have at least one small unnamed tributary.

Hydrology

The average

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

of Trout Run is 930 gallons per minute. It sometimes runs dry. The concentration of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

in the stream is 9.9 milligrams per liter during average conditions. The pH of Trout Run is 5.29 during average conditions. The stream experiences episodic acidification. It requires an additional

alkalinity Alkalinity (from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is the capacity of water to resist acidification. It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength of ...

load of per day to be restored to the standards laid out by the East Branch Fishing Creek Restoration Plan. Trout Run is considered to have fair

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

. It could potentially improve the water quality of East Branch Fishing Creek, but not significantly. Proposed methods of increasing the alkalinity of Trout Run include road liming. The cost of road liming Trout Run along with the nearby Lead Run is estimated to be $120,000. A total of of streams in the watershed of Trout Run are considered by the

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws. ...

to be impaired to do atmospheric deposition and metals.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Trout 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 source of the stream is between and . The lower reaches of Trout Run are over rock of the

. The stream's upper reaches lie over the

. The lower reaches of Trout Run lie over the Oquaga soil association, although the Deep-Wellsboro-Oquaga soil association also occurs nearby. The upper reaches of the stream have soils of the Oquaga soil association, as well as another soil association. There are also rock

outcropping An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial ...

s near the stream. Most of the soil in the watershed is highly acidic.

Watershed

The watershed of Trout Run has an area of . There are of streams in the watershed. Most of Trout Run is on private land. However, a number of forest trails run parallel to and cross the stream.

History

The restoration of Trout Run, along with Lead Run, is the seventh phase of the East Branch Fishing Creek Restoration Plan. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has designated Trout Run to be used for

aquatic life An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem formed by surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The two ...

. The stream was listed as impaired in 2002. As of December 2011, a

total maximum daily load A total maximum daily load (TMDL) is a regulatory term in the U.S. Clean Water Act, describing a plan for restoring impaired waters that identifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive while still meeting water quali ...

is scheduled for it in 2015.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Sullivan County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Fishing Creek (North Branch Susquehanna River) Rivers of Pennsylvania