Panther 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 drainag ...

of Spring Brook in

Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Lackawanna County (; unm, Lèkaohane) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania and had a population of 215,896 as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is Scranton. The county ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Thornhurst Township, Clifton Township, and Spring Brook Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . It has one named tributary, which is known as Painter Creek. Panther Creek is considered to be

Class A Wild Trout Waters Class A Wild Trout Waters are the highest biomass class given to streams in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. They are considered to contain the highest-quality naturally reproducing trout populations in Pennsylvania. ...

. The surficial geology in its vicinity consists of alluvium, alluvial terrace, Wisconsinan Till, and bedrock.

Course

Panther Creek begins to the west of Panther Hill in Thornhurst Township. It flows north for several tenths of a mile, passing through Clifton Township for a few hundred feet and entering Spring Brook Township. The creek then turns north-northeast for a few tenths of a mile, entering a valley. At this point, it turns north-northwest for several tenths of a mile and receives Painter Creek, its only named tributary, 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 northwesterly direction for several tenths of a mile to its confluence with Spring Brook. Panther Creek joins Spring Brook upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Panther Creek has one named tributary, which is known as Painter Creek. Painter Creek joins Panther Creek upstream of its mouth. Its watershed has an area of .

Hydrology

The concentration of

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 strengt ...

in Panther Creek is 4 milligrams per liter.

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 t ...

of Panther 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 standardise ...

. The elevation of the creek'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, beac ...

along the lower reaches of Panther Creek 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. Alluv ...

and

alluvial terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial te ...

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 ...

containing conglomeratic sandstone,

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 silicates ...

, 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, especia ...

is present slightly further from the creek, as is a glacial or resedimented

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. Further upstream, the surficial geology consists of bedrock consisting of

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** C ...

, shale, and sandstone. Wisconsinan Till is also present in some areas.

Watershed

The watershed of Panther Creek has an area of . The watershed is in the southwestern part of the Lackawanna River watershed. It is mostly in Spring Brook Township and Thornhurst Township. However, a small corner is in Clifton Township and an even smaller area is in Bear Creek Township, in

Luzerne County Luzerne County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county ...

. 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 Moscow. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Avoca. A total of 97 percent of the length of Panther Creek is on public land that is open to access. The remaining 3 percent is on private land that is closed to access. The Theta Land Corp. owned land along the creek, but opened it to be public in 2002 by leasing it to 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 separ ...

for $1 per year.

History and recreation

Panther 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 1183249. The first

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

in Spring Brook Township was constructed near the confluence of Panther Creek with Spring Brook, on the latter stream. In the early 2000s, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan recommended that Spring Brook Township include protection of Panther Creek in their comprehensive plans, as well as their ordinances for land use, zoning, and subdivision.

Catch and release Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posed photography as proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooked and returne ...

fishing is permitted on the entire length of Panther Creek.

Biology

Wild

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-sa ...

naturally reproduce in Panther Creek from its headwaters downstream to its mouth. They also do so in the tributary Painter Creek. The entire length of Panther Creek is considered by the

to be Class A Wild Trout Waters for brook trout.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Spring Brook (Lackawanna River) Rivers of Pennsylvania