Recent Articles

Barbed tributaries and aligned drainage near Cheney, PA

Cheney, PA is located in an east oriented East Branch Chester Creek valley segment and is located a short distance downstream from the confluence of south-southeast oriented East Branch Chester Creek with southeast oriented Goose Creek and a short distance upstream from where the East Branch Chester Creek turns to flow again in a south-southeast […]

Millstone River water gap near Princeton, NJ

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. […]

Crum Creek-Darby Creek drainage divide area near Newtown Square, PA

Darby Creek flows in a southeast direction from near Berwyn and Daylesford, PA to southwest Philadelphia where it turns to flow in a southwest direction to join the southwest oriented Delaware River. Crum Creek headwaters are located just west of the Darby Creek headwaters near Paoli and Crum Creek flows in a south-southeast direction to […]

Ridley Creek-Chester Creek drainage divide area located west of Media, Chester County, PA

Ridley Creek flows in a south-southeast direction along the west edge of Media and eventually reaches the southwest oriented Delaware River while Chester Creek flows in a southeast direction approximately 3 kilometers to the west and independently reaches the Delaware River. In addition to being two closely spaced and roughly parallel southeast oriented Delaware River […]

Barbed tributaries and aligned drainage near Media, Delaware County, PA

Media (Delaware County, PA) is located on the relatively narrow drainage divide between south oriented Crum Creek and south-southeast oriented Ridley Creek. Northeast oriented and barbed tributaries drain to Crum Creek and to Ridley Creek from the west and tributaries to both creeks from the east are oriented in southwest directions. The northeast and southeast […]

Crum Creek-Ridley Creek drainage divide near Geist Reservoir, Delaware County, PA

North of Media (Delaware County, PA) Crum Creek and Ridley Creek flow in closely spaced southeast oriented valleys and then turn to flow in south-southeast oriented valley. Geist Reservoir is an artificial lake flooding a Crum Creek valley segment. Both Crum Creek and Ridley Creek in this region are joined by northeast and north-northeast oriented […]

Landforms seen along SEPTA’s Norristown High Speed Line

Introduction: Trains on the Norristown High Speed Line (NHSL) require approximately 30 minutes to travel 13.4 miles from SEPTA’s 69th Street Terminal to the Norristown Transportation Center, yet that relatively short trip involves crossing several creeks and a major river, climbing up and down as several drainage divides are crossed, passing through a water gap, […]

Strafford through valley linking Darby and Gulph Creeks

A shallow, but interesting through valley crosses the Schuylkill River-Delaware River drainage divide at the Main Line community of Strafford and links east oriented Gulph Creek, which flows to the Schuylkill River, with south oriented Darby Creek tributaries, with Darby Creek eventually reaching the Delaware River. The drainage divide elevation at the Strafford through valley […]

Radnor saddle on the Schuylkill River-Delaware River drainage divide

The town of Radnor is located Schuylkill River-Delaware River drainage divide between Gulph Creek, which flows to the Schuylkill River, and Ithan Creek, which flows to Darby Creek, which then flows to the Delaware River. The drainage divide elevation at the Radnor saddle location is between 410 and 420 feet while the drainage divide rises […]

Rosemont saddle on the Schuylkill River-Delaware River drainage divide

The towns of Villanova, Rosemont, and Bryn Mawr are located Schuylkill River-Delaware River drainage divide with Rosemont being located on the divide between Mill Creek, which flows to the Schuylkill River, and Meadowbrook Run, which flows to Darby Creek, which then flows to the Delaware River. The drainage divide elevation at the Rosemont saddle location […]

Schuylkill River-Mill Creek Drainage Divide area east and north of Bryn Mawr

Mill Creek originates just north of the Villanova University campus and flows in an east direction along the north sides of the Rosemont College and Bryn Mawr campuses until it turns to flow in an east-southeast and a south-southeast direction before making an abrupt turn to flow in a northeast direction to join the southeast […]

Some reasons why previous researchers have been unable to explain Pennsylvania drainage route origins

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 […]

Chester Valley Origin: Some Alternate Interpretations

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 […]

Through Valley Crossing the Delaware-Schuylkill Drainage Divide at Deer Run and East Branch Perkiomen Creek

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: An East Branch Perkiomen Creek Barbed Tributary

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 […]

Evidence of Diverging and Converging Channels in the Souderton-Telford Region

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 […]

Schuylkill River Elbows of Capture Upstream from Valley Forge National Historical Park

The Schuylkill River between Phoenixville and Norristown makes several remarkable direction changes including two complete U-turns just upstream from Valley Forge National Historical Park. Other interesting Schuylkill River U-turns or perhaps incised meanders are found between Pottstown and Phoenixville, although this essay will focus on the U-turns between Phoenixville and Valley Forge National Historical Park. […]