Little Tomhicken Creek is a tributary of Tomhicken Creek in

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Schuylkill County (, ; Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: Schulkill Kaundi) is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through East Union Township and North Union Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The creek is considered to be a Coldwater Fishery. However, it is devoid of fish life and is impaired by acid mine drainage. It also has low water quality. The main rock formations in the creek's watershed are the Mauch Chunk Formation and the Pottsville Formation and the main soil is the Hazleton soil. Nearly all of the creek's length is fairly close to a road.

Course

Little Tomhicken Creek looking downstream

Little Tomhicken Creek begins in a

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 whic ...

on Green Mountain near Cove Mountain Drive in East Union Township. It flows north for a few hundred feet, almost immediately entering a valley. It then turns northeast for a few hundred feet before turning north again and flowing parallel to Nuremberg Road for several tenths of a mile. The creek then enters North Union Township and continues north. A few hundred feet downstream, it reaches its confluence with Tomhicken Creek. Little Tomhicken Creek joins Tomhicken Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

Little Tomhicken Creek is 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 for

aquatic life An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem found in and around a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms—aquatic life—that are dependent on each other and on their environm ...

acid mine drainage Acid mine drainage, acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), or acid rock drainage (ARD) is the outflow of acidic water from metal mines and coal mines. Acid rock drainage occurs naturally within some environments as part of the rock weatherin ...

and pH. There is one source of acid mine drainage in the watershed near the mouth of the creek. Strip mines at its headwaters also contribute acid mine drainage making the creek highly acidic and significantly degrading its water quality. The pH of Little Tomhicken Creek is 4.4. The concentration of

alkalinity Alkalinity (from ) is the capacity of water to resist Freshwater acidification, acidification. It should not be confused with base (chemistry), basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength of a buffer s ...

in the creek is 0 milligrams per liter. The

water hardness Hard water is water that has a high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicar ...

is 22 milligrams per liter. At 1:20 P.M. on July 8, 1997, the air temperature in the vicinity of Little Tomhicken Creek upstream of its mouth was . The water temperature of the creek at that place and time was . The

specific conductance Electrical resistivity (also called volume resistivity or specific electrical resistance) is a fundamental specific property of a material that measures its electrical resistance or how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity in ...

of its waters is 107 μmhos.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Little Tomhicken Creek is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. The elevation of the source of the creek is between and . Most of the watershed of the creek is at a high elevation relative to the rest of the watershed of Catawissa Creek. The main

rock formation A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock (geology), rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock Geological formation, formation ...

s in the watershed of Little Tomhicken Creek are the

Mauch Chunk Formation The Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is named for the township of Mauch Chunk, now known as borough of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania and for nearby Mauch Chunk Ridge where th ...

and the

Pottsville Formation The Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and Alabama. It is a major ridge-former in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians of the eastern United States. The Pottsville ...

. The watershed of the creek is mainly on Hazleton

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

. There are few areas prone to

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

ing in the watershed. The headwaters of the creek are near a mountain known as

Green Mountain Green Mountain is a common name for "The Peak", the highest point and a stratovolcano on Ascension Island, which has gained some fame for claims that it is one of very few large-scale artificial forests. Green Mountain is ranked 38th by topograp ...

. A mine tunnel known as the Oneida Number 3 Tunnel discharges into Little Tomhicken Creek. This tunnel is the second-largest acid mine drainage discharge in the watershed of Catawissa Creek. Little Tomhicken Creek is a small creek with a width of , making it the narrowest named stream in the watershed of Catawissa Creek. It has a high gradient of .

Watershed and history

The watershed of Little Tomhicken Creek has an area of . Most of the watershed is in East Union Township. However, the northern and western parts of it are in North Union Township. There is an area of

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

land near the headwaters of the creek. Nuremberg Road runs parallel to Little Tomhicken Creek for much of the creek's length. Additionally, Chapel Road is in the northern part of the watershed and

Pennsylvania Route 924 Pennsylvania Route 924 (PA 924) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The highway runs from Pennsylvania Route 61, PA 61 in Frackville, Pennsylvania, Frackville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Schuylkill County, northeast to ...

passes through the watershed in a north-south direction. 91 percent of the creek's length is within of a road and 100 percent of its length is within of a road. In 1990, the

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of the watershed was 21 people per square kilometer. Little Tomhicken Creek is in the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

quadrangle of Nuremberg. In the 1990s, there was a period of development at the headwaters of Little Tomhicken Creek. In December 2009, a

passive treatment system A passive treatment system is a method for removing metals from acid mine drainage. There are several types of passive treatment systems, each of which may be used on their own or in combination to treat effluents. The type of system selected is dep ...

was installed on the Oneida Number Three Tunnel. However, heavy rain and

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

in March 2011 rendered it useless. As of August 1, 2014, the East Union Township Sewer Authority has authorization to discharge material from the East Union Township Wastewater Treatment Plant into Little Tomhicken Creek. The authorization will expires on at midnight on July 31, 2019.

Biology

Little Tomhicken Creek is considered by the

to be a Coldwater Fishery. A 1997 report advised against further management actions on the creek due to its low

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 ...

. The creek is also not managed by the

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is an independent state agency responsible for the regulation of all fishing and boating in the state of Pennsylvania within the United States of America. Unlike many U.S. states, Pennsylvania has a sepa ...

for the same reason. Due to acid mine drainage, no portion of the creek is able to support a usable fishery and it is devoid of any

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

life. A 1997 report stated that Little Tomhicken Creek was a poor site for angling.

Rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

inhabited Little Tomhicken Creek in the early 20th century.

References

External links

Map of the Catawissa Creek watershed
{{authority control Rivers of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Catawissa Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania