While not usually described as gorges the Philadelphia area contains numerous narrow stream and river valleys which for all practical purposes should be called gorges. Most Philadelphia area gorges are 350 feet or less in depth and have been eroded into erosion resistant metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Some Philadelphia area gorges now serve as major […]
Water gaps are formed where a stream or river has cut a valley across some type of ridge. Pennsylvania’s water gaps are often associated with where streams and rivers have cut what are sometimes spectacular water gaps in the state’s Valley and Ridge Province. Often overlooked are numerous, but somewhat less specular water gaps found […]
This is the second essay in which Philadelphia area drainage systems and erosional landforms as seen on detailed topographic maps are viewed as pieces of a solvable puzzle. The puzzle solution assumes running water carved the landscape features and the puzzle problem is to determine how running water accomplished that task. Each essay presents one […]
Philadelphia area drainage systems and erosional landforms when viewed on detailed topographic maps can be considered to be pieces of a giant puzzle, which if properly assembled tells how the regional landscape was formed. The topographic maps which can be obtained from the United States Geological Survey National Map and TopoView websites provide a big […]
“The Topographic Map Mystery: Geology’s Unrecognized Paradigm Problem” is a new book published in January of 2023 that discusses why the geology research community’s Cenozoic geology and glacial history paradigm cannot explain most topographic map drainage system and erosional landform evidence (such as the topographic map evidence described on the website) and describing a new […]
The following is a list of published papers by Eric Clausen in which topographic map evidence in various regions to the east of the Mississippi River has been interpreted. Links to open access papers are provided. A list of Clausen’s published papers in which topographic map evidence in various regions to the west of the […]
Valley Creek originates as a north oriented stream along the Chester Valley south wall and turns in an east-northeast direction to flow along the Chester Valley floor, but before reaching the southeast oriented Schuylkill River turns in a north direction to cross the Chester Valley north wall between Mount Joy and Mount Misery and to […]
Introduction: Sandy Run is an interesting secondary drainage route as it drains the Chester Valley east end (also known as the Roslyn Valley) in a west-southwest direction, but instead of continuing a short distance further on the Chester Valley floor to join south oriented Wissahickon Creek, it turns in a north direction to flow through […]
Introduction: Gulph Creek is a Schuylkill River tributary located in the region where Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties meet. Gulph Creek is only about six miles long from its head on the Schuylkill River-Delaware River drainage divide to its mouth where the creek flows into the Schuylkill River and drains an area of approximately six […]
The divide between West Branch Red Clay Creek and the East Branch White Clay Creek near Kennett Square is crossed by at least two former west-southwest oriented water flow channels. The southern former channel east end is drained by a north, east-northeast and southeast oriented tributary to the West Branch Red Clay Creek while the […]
Longwood Gardens near Kennett Square in Chester County is located on the drainage divide between Brandywine Creek to the east and Red Clay Creek to the west. A former east-to-west oriented water flow channel crosses the present-day Brandywine Creek-Red Clay Creek divide on the Longwood Gardens grounds on the north side of the main conservatory […]
This inventory identifies Bucks County’s most obvious water gaps by township as seen on 1:24,000-scale United States Geological Survey topographic maps and is not complete. Bucks County streams cross rock layers of varying resistance to erosion and many less obvious water gaps exist. Only townships containing the most obvious water gaps are listed here. Bedminster […]
This inventory identifies most of each township’s obvious barbed tributaries and elbows of capture as seen on 1:24,000-scale United States Geological Survey topographic maps, but should not be regarded as being complete. Also many of the barbed tributaries and elbows of capture are best seen and understood by observing the evidence in an area much […]
This inventory identifies each township’s most prominent hills, their elevations, and the nature of the bedrock forming the hill. Hills listed here are the named hills named on 1:24,000-scale United States Geological Survey topographic maps. Many Bucks County townships contained no named hills and if none were found that is indicated here Bedminster Township Relief […]
This inventory is an effort to identify each township’s most prominent through valley, or through valleys and many less prominent through valleys are not included. The through valleys provide evidence of former drainage routes that can best be explained in the context of massive and prolonged southwest oriented floods that were sequentially captured by headward […]
Two completely different Valley Creeks originate almost adjacent to each other in the South Valley Hills near Glenloch (between Malvern and Exton) and then flow parallel to each other in a north direction in deep narrow valleys down a steep slope onto the west-southwest to east-northeast oriented Chester Valley floor where the eastern Valley Creek […]
Multiple wind gaps (or water-eroded notches) carved in the West Branch Chester Creek-Brandywine Creek divide east and south of Chadds Ford, PA and north of the Delaware border provide evidence that multiple channels of flood flow moved in a southwest direction to the south oriented Brandywine Creek valley prior to headward erosion of the east, […]
The Paoli-Thorndale Regional Rail Line is unique among the SEPTA Regional Rail Lines in that between Ardmore and Malvern it follows the Schuylkill-Delaware River drainage divide and further west crosses the Schuylkill-Delaware River divide along the Chester Valley south wall. The Paoli-Thorndale Regional Rail Line, which was originally the Pennsylvania Railroad main line and which […]
Overview: Along its 34.4-mile trip from Center City Philadelphia to Doylestown a SEPTA train travels from the Philadelphia City Center to and then along the Coastal Plain-Piedmont Province boundary before moving from the Coastal Plain onto the Piedmont to reach the Tookany Creek drainage basin. Once in the Tookany Creek valley the train travels in […]
Little Neshaminy Creek originates as a northeast oriented stream and then turns to flow in an east, southeast, and east direction to eventually join southeast and south oriented Neshaminy Creek, which then flows to a southwest oriented Delaware River segment. Wissahickon Creek originates as a southwest oriented stream just north of the northeast oriented Little […]
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