West Branch Rausch 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 Rausch Creek in

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Schuylkill County (, ; Pennsylvania Dutch: Schulkill Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the heart of Pennsylvania's Coal Region and is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the popula ...

. It is approximately long and flows through Hegins Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . The creek is designated as an impaired waterbody due to metals from abandoned mine drainage. It has no named tributaries. West Branch Rausch Creek primarily flows through a valley between two mountains: Bear Mountain and Big Lick Mountain. The dominant land use in the watershed of the creek is

deciduous forest In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

, although there are more than each of

mixed forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These for ...

and disturbed land. Mining has been done in the watershed, and two mine pools are present within its boundaries, though one discharges into another watershed. At least one bridge has been constructed across the creek.

Course

West Branch Rausch Creek begins in a large valley between Bear Mountain and Big Lick Mountain, in Hegins Township, near the Schuylkill County/

Dauphin County Dauphin County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Daffin Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 286,401. The county seat and the largest city is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital and ninth ...

line. It flows east-northeast for several tenths of a mile before passing through a

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 ...

. From the eastern edge of the wetland, the creek continues flowing east-northeast for more than a mile. It then turns northeast for a few tenths of a mile, passing through two

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

s, reaching the end of its valley, and joining

East Branch Rausch Creek East Branch Rausch Creek is a tributary of Rausch Creek in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Porter Township and Hegins Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . The cr ...

to form Rausch Creek. West Branch Rausch Creek joins Rausch Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

The entire length of West Branch Rausch Creek is designated as an impaired waterbody. The cause of the impairment is metals and the probable source is

abandoned mine drainage Abandoned mine drainage (also known as AMD) is a form of water pollution involving water that has been polluted by contact with mines, typically coal mines. Although it is sometimes called "acid mine drainage", not all abandoned mine drainage i ...

. Despite being impacted by abandoned mine drainage, the creek is not impacted by

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 ...

, unlike the nearby

. 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 West Branch Rausch Creek near its mouth is per day. The pH of the creek has been measured to range from 6.1 to 6.5, with an average of 6.3. The

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 ...

concentration ranged from , with an average of . The

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

concentration in West Branch Rausch Creek near its mouth ranges from , with an average of . The concentration of

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

ranges from , with an average of . The

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 ...

concentration ranges between less than and , and averages . The iron load of West Branch Rausch Creek requires a 94 percent reduction to meet the

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 ...

requirements for the creek. However, the manganese and aluminum loads only require 55 percent and 28 percent reductions, respectively. The total

load in West Branch Rausch Creek is per year, considerably less than in East Branch Rausch Creek. The largest contributor of sediment to West Branch Rausch Creek is disturbed land, which accounts for per year, while the second-largest contributor is

, accounting for . Annually,

cropland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

accounts for ,

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 contribute of sediment,

contributes , and

coniferous forest Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All exta ...

contributes . Hay and pastures contribute no sediment to the creek.

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 West Branch Rausch 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 near the creek'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 above sea level. West Branch Rausch Creek drains an area of land between Bear Mountain and Big Lick Mountain. A

mine pool Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

known as the Williamstown-Lykens pool is located in the western portion of the creek's watershed. However, it does not discharge in the watershed, but instead discharges into the watershed of

Wiconisco Creek Wiconisco Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Schuylkill and Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin counties, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long. Course Wiconisco Creek begins ...

via the Big Lick Tunnel. Another mine pool, the Brookside Mine pool, is located in the watershed of West Branch Rausch Creek and actually does discharge into the creek at above sea level, via the Valley View Tunnel. The discharge of this pool ranges from per day, with an average of per day, making it the largest single source of water and abandoned mine drainage in the watershed. Some small deep mines and

strip mine Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

s line the mountain slopes to the north and south of West Branch Rausch Creek. The significant majority of these have not been

reclaimed Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lak ...

Watershed and biology

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 West Branch Rausch Creek has an area of . The 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 Tower City. Its mouth is located near Tower City. The dominant

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long h ...

in the watershed of West Branch Rausch Creek is

, which accounts for of the watershed's . The second-largest and third-largest land uses are disturbed land and mixed forest, which account for , respectively.

Cropland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

occupies of the watershed, while coniferous forest occupies . Unpaved roads occupy , while hay/pastures occupy . West Branch Rausch Creek flows through a

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

in its upper reaches. This swamp is situated in

Pennsylvania State Game Lands The Pennsylvania State Game Lands (SGL) are lands managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) for hunting, trapping, and fishing. These lands, often not usable for farming or development, are donated to the PGC or purchased by the PGC with hu ...

. The designated use for West Branch Rausch Creek is

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 creek is classified as a Coldwater Fishery.

History

West Branch Rausch 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 1190927. A concrete slab bridge carrying Bear Valley Road was constructed across West Branch Rausch Creek in 1973 and is long. In 1996, two companiesWenrich Coal Co. and D. and F. Deep Mine Coal Co.applied for renewal of permits for existing

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...

deep mine operations for which the receiving waterbody was West Branch Rausch Creek. One company has a deep mining permit allowing it to discharge into the creek, as of 2001. However, this discharge is only intermittent. In 2015, Pennsylvania State Game Lands 264 received an additional tract of near the headwaters of West Branch Rausch Creek from

PPL Corporation PPL Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. History Pennsylvania Power & Light was founded in 1 ...

References