Little Mahantango 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 ...

Mahantango Creek Mahantango Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin, Northumberland County, P ...

in Schuylkill County and Northumberland 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 Eldred Township and Upper Mahantongo Township in Schuylkill County and Upper Mahanoy Township in Northumberland County. The watershed of the creek has an area of . The creek has many unnamed tributaries and sub-tributaries; all of them, as well as the

main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow.. A ...

, are impaired. The cause of impairment in Little Mahantango Creek is sedimentation/siltation and the probable source of impairment is agriculture. The main rock formations in the vicinity of Little Mahantango Creek include the Irish Valley Member, the Trimmers Rock Formation, the Duncannon Member, and the Sherman Creek Member. The main soils in the vicinity of the creek include the Leck Kill-Minersville-Calvin soil, the Berks-Weikert-Beddington soil, and the Hazelton-Dekalb-Buchnnan soil. The main land use near it is agricultural land, but forested land and developed land are also present. A number of bridges have been constructed across the creek.

Course

Little Mahantango Creek begins near Line Mountain, in Eldred Township, Schuylkill County. It flows south-southeast for a short distance before turning west-southwest, receiving an unnamed tributary 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 ...

. After several tenths of a mile, the creek turns south for a few tenths of a mile, receiving an unnamed tributary from the right and two unnamed tributaries 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 ...

. It then flows in a generally west-southwesterly direction for a few miles, occasionally flowing west-northwest for short distances, and receiving one unnamed tributary from the right and two from the left before turning northwest. Several tenths of a mile further downstream, the creek turns west-northwest, receiving two more unnamed tributaries from the right (in the process crossing

Pennsylvania Route 125 Pennsylvania Route 125 (PA 125) is a state highway located in Schuylkill and Northumberland Counties in Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is at PA 443 in Pine Grove. The northern terminus is at PA 61 in Shamokin. The route follows a winding ...

) and entering Upper Mahanoy Township, Northumberland County. Upon entering Northumberland County, Little Mahantango Creek soon receives an unnamed tributary from the right and turns south, reentering Eldred Township, Schuylkill County. The creek flows southwest for several tenths of a mile and receives an unnamed tributary from the right and another from the left before entering Upper Mahantongo Township, where it turns west-southwest, receiving another unnamed tributary from the right before turning west-northwest. A few tenths of a mile further downstream, the creek turns west-southwest for several tenths of a mile, receiving three unnamed tributaries from the right. It then turns south for a few tenths of a mile before turning west and then west-southwest, receiving two unnamed tributaries from the right. The creek then gradually turns south-southeast, receiving one more unnamed tributary from the right in the process. After several tenths of a mile of flowing south-southeast, it reaches its confluence with Mahantango Creek. Little Mahantango Creek joins Mahantango Creek upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

Reaches of Little Mahantango Creek are designated as an impaired waterbody. The cause of the impairment is

sedimentation Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...

siltation Siltation, is water pollution caused by particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the increased accumulation (temporary or ...

and the probable source is agriculture. The entirety of the creek and all of its unnamed tributaries and sub-tributaries are designated as impaired. In July 1998, the water temperature of Little Mahantango Creek near

Pitman Pitman may refer to: * A coal miner, particularly in Northern England * Pitman (surname) * Pitman, New Jersey, United States * Pitman, Pennsylvania, United States * Pitman, Saskatchewan, Canada * Pitman Shorthand, a system of shorthand * Pitman ar ...

was once measured to be , while at Line Mountain, it was measured to be . The instantaneous discharge of the creek was near Pitman and at Line Mountain. The

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

was 199 micro-siemens per centimeter at near Pitman and 188 micro-siemens per centimeter at at Line Mountain. The concentration of

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...

in the creek was near Pitman and at Line Mountain.

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 Little Mahantango 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. The geology surrounding most of the length of Little Mahantango Creek consists of the Irish Valley Member and the

Trimmers Rock Formation Trimmer may refer to: * Trimmer (construction), beam used in construction * Trimmer (electronics), small electrical component * Trimmer (gardening), gardening power tool * Trimmer (surname) * Trimmer, California, community in Fresno County * La ...

. However, the Sherman Creek Member is present near parts of the creek's middle and upper reaches, as well as at the mouth. The geology at the headwaters of the creek consists of rock of the Duncannon Member. The main

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

occurring in the vicinity of Little Mahantango Creek is the Leck Kill-Minersville-Calvin soil. However, the Berks-Weikert-Beddington soil occurs near the middle reaches of the creek and the Hazelton-Dekalb-Buchnnan soil occurs near its headwaters.

Watershed

The watershed of Little Mahantango Creek has an area of . The mouth of the creek 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 Valley View. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Tremont. The creek's mouth is situated near Valley View. The main

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 vicinity of Little Mahantango Creek is agricultural land. However, there are some areas of forested land and some small patches of developed land as well. The designated use for Little Mahantango 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 tw ...

History

Little Mahantango 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 1192805. In 1793, David Klock received a

warranty deed A warranty deed is a type of deed where the grantor (seller) guarantees that they hold clear title to a piece of real estate and has a right to sell it to the grantee (buyer), in contrast to a quitclaim deed, where the seller does not guarantee ...

for a tract of land nicknamed "Beauty" on Little Mahantango Creek. Historically, there was a

carding Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibres between differentially moving su ...

fulling mill Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...

on the creek. A steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge carrying

was constructed across Little Mahantango Creek in 1932 and repaired in 1956. This bridge is long. A steel girder and floorbeam system bridge carrying State Route 4014 was constructed over the creek in 1949 and is long. In 1963, a steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge carrying Tannenbaum Road was constructed over the creek and is long. A concrete slab bridge carrying Mill Road across the creek was built in 1973 and is long. A concrete frame bridge carrying T-468 (Hepler Road) over the creek was built in 2009 and is long.

References