Utley Brook 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 drai ...

of Tunkhannock Creek in

Susquehanna County Susquehanna County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,434 Its county seat is Montrose. The county was created on February 21, 1810, from p ...

and Wyoming County, in

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. It is approximately long and flows through Lenox Township in Susquehanna County and Nicholson Township in Wyoming County. The stream is in the United States Geological Survey quadrangles of Hop Bottom and Lenoxville. The surficial geology in its vicinity consists of Wisconsinan Till, alluvium, bedrock, wetlands, and lakes. The creek is a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. It has one named tributary, which is known as Willow Brook.

Course

Utley Brook begins in Lenox Township, Susquehanna County. It flows south for several tenths of a mile and passes 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 waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

before turning southeast. After a few tenths of a mile, the stream turns south for several tenths of a mile before turning south-southwest and passing through another wetland. It then turns south for several tenths of a mile and enters Nicholson Township, Wyoming County. Here, it turns south-southwest for several tenths of a mile, receiving Willow Brook, its only named tributary, from the

right Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of 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 convention, or ethical ...

. It then crosses

Pennsylvania Route 92 Pennsylvania Route 92 (PA 92) is a north–south state highway located in northeast Pennsylvania. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 11 (US 11) in West Pittston. The northern terminus is at the New York-Pennsylvania border i ...

and reaches its confluence with Tunkhannock Creek.

Tributaries

Utley Brook has one named tributary, which is known as Willow Brook. Willow Brook is approximately long.

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 Utley Brook 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 standardis ...

. The elevation of the stream's source is between above sea level. 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 ...

in the valley of Utley Brook mostly 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. ...

and a

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

known as

Wisconsinan Till The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cord ...

. However, there are also wetlands and lakes in the valley. Additionally,

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...

consisting of

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 silicat ...

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, especiall ...

occurs in the surficial geology on some hills around the stream's valley. Marcellus Gas Gathering, LLC. has requested and/or received a permit to build, operate, and maintain an 8-inch (20-centimeter) diameter steel

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

pipeline crossing a stream in the watershed of Utley Brook. Williams Field Services Company, LLC requested and/or received a permit to build, operate, and maintain a 12-inch (30-centimeter) diameter natural gas pipeline crossing Utley Brook itself.

Watershed and biology

The mouth of Utley Brook is in 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 Hop Bottom. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Lenoxville. Utley Brook is classified as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Wyoming County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Pennsylvania Tributaries of Tunkhannock Creek

Course

Tributaries

Geography and geology

Watershed and biology

See also

References