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 […]
Category archives for water gap
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Valley Forge National Historical Park is located south of a northeast oriented Schuylkill River segment and at the east-northeast end of the ridge forming the Chester Valley west-northwest margin. Mount Joy in the Valley Forge Park is where the high ridge ends and west of the Mount Joy the ridge segments are named Mount […]
The Chester Valley is a narrow lowland extending from near the southeast oriented Susquehanna River valley in an east-northeast direction almost to the southeast oriented Schuylkill River valley. The Pennsylvania Geologic Survey web applications map shows the Chester Valley to be underlain by easily eroded carbonate rocks. The Chester Valley north rim (North Valley Hills) […]
Christiana is a small community located about 50 miles west of Philadelphia and just north of a water gap where East Branch Octoraro Creek headwaters cross the North Valley Hills. South of that water gap the East Branch Octoraro Creek flows across the east-northeast oriented Chester Valley and then flows through another water gap as […]
Figure 1: Chester Valley segment between Valley Creek and East Brandywine Creek showing East Brandy Creek and Valley Creek valleys in the South Valley Hills. United States Geological Survey map digitally presented using National Geographic TOPO software. One the Philadelphia region’s most easily recognized landforms is the Chester Valley, which extends in an east-northeast direction […]
Figure 1: Solebury Mountain in Bucks County, PA. The Delaware River flows in a south and southeast direction in a water gap eroded between Solebury Mountain and Goat Hill. United States Geological Survey topographic map digitally presented using National Geographic TOPO software. Solebury Mountain is a high ridge (more than 480 feet at its highest […]
Figure 1: Bowman Hill at Washington Crossing Historic Park. The Delaware River flows in a southeast direction in the water gap it eroded between Bowman Hill and Belle Mountain. United States Geological Survey topographic map digitally presented using National Geographic TOPO software. Bowman Hill is a high point (over 400 feet while the adjacent Delaware […]
Watson Creek is a relatively minor stream located east of Doylestown and flows in a south and northeast direction to join southeast oriented Mill Creek, which then joins southeast and south oriented Neshaminy Creek. In its short distance Watson Creek passes through two water gaps and abruptly changes direction at an elbow of capture. The […]
The Neshaminy Creek drainage route north and west of Langhorne exhibits several intriguing elbows of capture. Figure 1 below shows Neshaminy Creek flowing in a southeast direction to Bridgetown (near map northeast corner) where it then makes a U-turn to flow in a west-southwest direction to Playwick Park (near map center). East-northeast oriented Mill Creek […]
The stream referred to in this discussion as Tacony Creek, is sometimes known as Tookany Creek in its upper reaches and as Frankford Creek as it approaches the Delaware River. This distinction probably had more significance in the past than it does today as urbanization has buried tributary creeks and otherwise altered the drainage basin. […]
Spring Mill Creek (also known as Spring Mill Run) is a relatively minor Schuylkill River tributary and flows in a southwest, south, west, and south direction to the Schuylkill River at Spring Mill (just east of Conshohocken). The Spring Mill Creek drainage basin is bounded on the north and west by the southwest and south […]
Without question the deepest, longest, and most magnificent Wissahickon Creek water gap is the seven-mile long Wiisahickon Gorge eroded across a 420-foot high ridge of tightly folded metamorphic and igneous rocks and which is located entirely within the Philadelphia city limits. The erosion resistant ridge extends in an east-northeast direction across southeast Pennsylvania and is […]
Wissahickon Creek flows through the Ambler region in a southeast direction before making a turn to flow in a southwest and then south direction through its Fort Washington Water Gap located between Militia Hill and Fort Hill. In the Amber region southeast oriented Wisahickon Creek is joined by southwest oriented tributaries from the east and […]
Wissahickon Creek flows in a southwest and south-southwest direction as it travels from its headwaters to just west of North Wales and then turns to flow in a south-southwest and south-southeast direction to pass through the first of several water gaps encountered on its journey to reach the southeast oriented Schuylkill River. South of the […]
Stony Creek flows in a southwest and south direction in Montgomery County to join the southeast oriented Schuylkill River at Norristown. Southwest oriented Stony Creek headwaters and headwaters tributaries are linked by shallow through valleys with the south oriented Wissahickon Creek valley to the east. Other Stony Creek tributaries flow in south, southwest, and northeast […]
After flowing in a southwest, south, south-southeast, and east direction Wissahickon Creek turns at its Gynedd Valley Elbow of Capture to flow in a south direction through its Gynedd Valley Water Gap. Southwest and west-southwest oriented Trewellyn Creek joins the east oriented Wissahickon Creek segment at the Gynedd Valley Elbow of Capture. The Gynedd Valley […]
Two adjacent water gaps can be seen just south of Fort Washington. The first, the Wissahickon Water Gap, is where Wissahickon Creek flows in a south direction between Fort Hill (east) and Militia Hill (west). The second, the Sandy Run Water Gap, is where Sandy Run turns from flowing in a west direction to flow […]
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