South Branch Newport Creek looking downstream

South Branch Newport Creek is a tributary of

Newport Creek Newport Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is in length. Named tributaries of the creek include South Branch Newport Creek. The entire watershed of Newport Creek is considered ...

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeaste ...

, in the United States. It is long. The entire watershed of the creek is considered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to be impaired.

Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

has also been done in the watershed.

Course

South Branch Newport Creek looking upstream

South Branch Newport Creek begins in

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 ...

s near the community of Wanamie in Newport Township. The headwaters are located north of

Penobscot Mountain Penobscot Knob, also Penobscot Mountain, is a summit that is located in the western fringe of the Poconos nearest to Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. The Solomon Gap pass below it contains an important multi-modal transportation corridor. History an ...

. The creek flows east for some distance before gradually turning north slightly west of the community of

Alden Alden may refer to: Places United States *Alden, California, a former settlement * Alden, Illinois *Alden, Iowa * Alden, Kansas * Alden, Michigan * Alden, Minnesota * Alden, Oklahoma * Alden, Pennsylvania * Alden, New York ** Alden (village), New ...

. It then flows into the western part of Nanticoke, where it joins Newport Creek.

Tributaries

South Branch Newport Creek has one named tributary, which is known as Reservoir Creek. It also has an unnamed tributary.

Hydrology

At the headwaters of South Branch Newport Creek, the daily load of

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () 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, forming much of Earth's o ...

is . The concentration of iron at this location is 0.26 milligrams per liter. Downstream of UNTUnnamed tributary 28346, the daily iron load is per day and the concentration is 3.34 milligrams per liter. Downstream of the Sheatown Discharge, the load of iron is per day (with a concentration of 4.62 milligrams per liter) and upstream of the mouth, the load is per day, where the concentration of iron is 1.11 milligrams per liter. At South Branch Newport Creek's headwaters, the

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

load is per day. The concentration at this location is 1.61 milligrams per liter. Downstream of UNT 28346, the daily manganese load is , with a concentration of 2.14 milligrams per liter and downstream of the Sheatown Discharge, the load is per day. The manganese concentration downstream of the Sheatown Discharge is 2.22 milligrams per liter. Upstream of the creek's mouth, the daily load is , where the concentration is 2.23 milligrams per liter. The daily

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

load at the headwaters of South Branch Newport Creek is . The concentration of aluminum at this location is 2.00 milligrams per liter. The load is per day downstream of UNT 28346, with a concentration of 4.53 milligrams per liter and daily downstream of the Sheatown Discharge, with a concentration of 3.38 milligrams per liter there. The daily aluminum load is upstream of the creek's mouth, where the concentration is 1.09 milligrams per liter. The daily load of

acidity An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis acid. The first category of acids are the ...

at the headwaters of South Branch Newport Creek is . The concentration of acidity at this location is 33.80 milligrams per liter. Downstream of UNT 28346, the daily load of acidity is , with the concentration being 62.47 milligrams per liter and downstream of the Sheatown Discharge, the load is per day, with a concentration of 42.57 milligrams per liter there. Upstream of the mouth of the creek, the daily load of acidity is , where the acidity concentration is 13.93 milligrams per liter. 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 ...

at the headwaters of South Branch Newport Creek is 2.3 milligrams per liter and the load is per day. The alkalinity concentration upstream of the creek's mouth is 9.1 milligrams per liter and the daily load is . There is a daily

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

load of in the South Branch Newport Creek watershed. per day comes from hay or pastures. per day comes from forests, per day comes from stream banks, per day comes from land classified 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 ...

as "transition", and per day comes from

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

s. of sediment per day comes from land classified by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as "low-intensity development", per day comes from land classified by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as "high-intensity development", and comes from croplands. of sediment from

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s flows into South Branch Newport Creek each day. The discharge of South Branch Newport Creek at its headwaters ranges from 0.010 to 0.133 cubic feet per second, with an average of 0.052 cubic feet per second. The discharge of the creek downstream of UNT 28346 ranges from 0.085 to 2.276 cubic feet per second and the average discharge is 0.933 cubic feet per second. Below the Sheatown Discharge, it ranges from 0.127 to 4.492 cubic feet per second, with an average of 1.644 cubic feet per second. Above the mouth, it ranges from 0.424 to 5.284 cubic feet per second and the average is 2.216 cubic feet per second.

Geology, geography, and climate

South Branch Newport Creek is entirely in the

ridge and valley The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands division. The physiographic province is divided into three sec ...

geographical region of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

. The southern part of the watershed is on Little Wilkes-Barre Mountain. 79 percent of the rock in the watershed of South Branch Newport Creek belongs to the Llwellyn Formation. 7 percent belongs to the Pottsville Group, 7 percent belongs to 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 7 percent belongs to the

Pocono Formation The Mississippian Pocono Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, in the United States. It is also known as the Pocono Group in Maryland and West Virginia, and the upper part of the Pocono Formation is somet ...

. 70 percent of the soil in the watershed is of the Udorthents-Urban Land-Volusia series. The remaining 30 percent belongs to the Lackawanna-Arnot-Morris series. The Llwellyn Formation occupies all of the northern and central reaches of the South Branch Newport Creek watershed. South of the Llwellyn Formation is the Pottsville Formation. South of the Pottsville Formation is the Mauch Chunk Formation and then the Pocono Formation. The southernmost reaches of the watershed are occupied by rock of the Duncannon Member formation. The area near the mouth of the creek, it flows over a coal sheet called Sheet III. South of the middle reaches of the tributary Reservoir Creek, all of the soil belongs to the Lackawanna-Arnot-Morris series. North of this area, the soil all belongs to the Udorthents-Urban Land-Volusia series. There is some drift on the banks of South Branch Newport Creek, but not as much as on Newport Creek itself. The average annual rainfall in the South Branch Newport Creek watershed is . The average runoff is per year.

Watershed

South Branch Newport Creek's watershed has an area of 5.05 square miles. 58 percent of the land is forested land, 28 percent is developed land, 13 percent is agricultural land, and 1 percent of the land is in other categories. Most of the watershed is in Newport Township and Nanticoke, but the southwestern edge of the watershed is on the border between Newport Township and Slocum Township. Most of the developed land in the South Branch Newport Creek watershed is in the central part of the watershed, around the community of Wanamie or in the northeast part of the watershed, in Nanticoke. Forested land is found throughout the watershed, except for the northeast part. Agricultural land is mostly found in the central part of the watershed and disturbed land is mostly found in the western reaches of it. The headwaters of South Branch Newport Creek can be accessed by State Route 3004. In the late 1800s, there was 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 ...

at the headwaters of South Branch Newport Creek.

History

In 1874, there was a large release of

quicksand Quicksand (also known as sinking sand) is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it crea ...

at the Alden shaft on South Branch Newport Creek. Several collieries discharged into South Branch Newport Creek in the early 1900s.

Notes

References

{{authority control Rivers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania