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 […]
Author Profile
Eric Clausen
Recent Posts
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
Overview: Along its 32.5-mile trip from Center City Philadelphia to West Trenton a SEPTA West Trenton train travels from the Philadelphia City Center to and then along the Coastal Plain-Piedmont boundary before moving onto the Piedmont Province to reach the Tookany Creek drainage basin. Once in the Tookany Creek valley the train travels in a […]
An interesting New Jersey landform providing significant information related to Philadelphia area landforms is the Millstone River water gap located near Princeton. The Millstone River flows in a northwest direction, as seen at location 1 in figure 1, to enter Carnegie Lake at Princeton and then to flow in a north direction to location 2. […]
While speculation about Pennsylvania drainage route origins and more specifically water and wind gap origins can be traced back to the early 1700s the questions still persist and the speculation continues[1] This inability of researchers to explain Pennsylvania drainage features, such as the large-scale Susquehanna River and Delaware River water gaps, is puzzling as similar […]
To date this website has used simple map interpretation methods when interpreting Philadelphia area landform origins and previous researcher interpretations have not been mentioned. While multiple Philadelphia area geologic and geographic studies have been conducted over the past 150 years origins of most landforms interpreted here have never been addressed at least in a way […]
A well defined northeast-to-southwest oriented through valley links the northwest oriented Deer Run valley with the southwest oriented East Branch Perkiomen Creek valley. The Deer Run valley drains to southeast, east, and south oriented Tohickon Creek, which flows to the southeast oriented Delaware River and the East Branch Perkiomen Creek drains to south and southwest […]
Morris Run is an East Branch Perkiomen Creek tributary located between Perkasie and Dublin in Bucks County and originates as a northeast oriented stream before turning in north, west, north, and northwest directions to join southwest oriented East Branch Perkiomen Creek. Most Morris Run tributaries flow in southwest directions to join north oriented Morris Run […]
Shallow wind gaps in Souderton and Telford area link headwaters of northeast and southwest oriented Perkiomen Creek tributaries and provide evidence of what were diverging and converging flood flow channels. Evidence of former channels include the present day southwest oriented East Branch Perkiomen Creek valley, a shallow wind gap in Telford linking a northeast oriented […]
Phillylandforms.info 