Black Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Conyngham Township. The creek's watershed has an area of . It is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. The creek is ephemeral and loses its flow to underground mines. Varying concentrations of many alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, and transition metals occur in water in the creek's watershed. The watershed typically experiences relatively mild temperatures. It is mainly accessible via U.S. Route 11, Pennsylvania Route 239, and a local road.
Black Creek is situated within the Coal Region of Pennsylvania. Rock formations in the watershed include the Mauch Chunk Formation, the Pottsville Formation, and the Llwellyn Formation. Coal beds in the watershed include the Lower Red Ash bed, the Upper Red Ash bed, the Lower Ross bed, the Upper Ross bed, and the Baltimore Bed. Ridges of mine waste also occur in the creek's drainage basin. Mining was done in the watershed as early as the winter of 1836-1837, but it stopped in 1955. The creek and the surrounding areas were the subject of a joint study by several federal and state organizations in the 1960s.
Course
Black Creek begins in a valley in Conyngham Township. It flows west-northwest for nearly a mile, passing through a large pond or small lake, before turning north for several hundred feet. The creek then turns west for a short distance and enters a broader and much shallower valley before receiving an unnamed tributary from the right. It then turns southwest for more than a mile before turning south-southwest and flowing through a deep and narrow valley to the northern border of Mocanaqua. The creek then turns west for a few tenths of a mile, following the border of Mocanaqua to its confluence with the Susquehanna River.
Black Creek joins the Susquehanna River upstream of its mouth.
Tributaries
Black Creek has no officially named tributaries. However, an 1887 book stated that the creek had two tributaries. One was unnamed and flowed from a point west of the DuPont Drift to the creek at the Golden Drift. The other was referred to as Turkey Pond Creek and was sometimes nearly dry, but could have a substantial flow during spring rains.
Hydrology and climate
Black Creek is an ephemeral stream. It used to drain an area between Turtle Creek and the Susquehanna River, but now loses its flow to underground mines via broken bedrock. Its channel is also disrupted by strip mines and rock piles. The waters of Black Creek are acidic.
Anions in the waters of the Black Creek drainage basin include sulfate and bicarbonate. The concentrations of aluminum in the mine pools in the area are typically very low or nonexistent. However, some mine waters in the watershed can have aluminum ion concentrations of over 70 milligrams per liter, forming 6 percent of total dissolved solids in the water, as measured by weight. The concentration of manganese ions in the waters can be over 100 milligrams per liter and calcium also occurs in groundwater in the watershed. Magnesium occurs in the non-polluted groundwater in the watershed in concentrations of 1 to 5 milligrams per liter and occurs in polluted groundwater at concentrations of 4 to 440 milligrams per liter.
Sodium and potassium occur in water in the Black Creek watershed, with sodium being considerably more common than potassium. Potassium concentrations are around 20 milligrams per liter, while sodium concentrations are less than 10 milligrams per liter. Lithium and rubidium also have been observed in the watershed, with concentrations of 0.02 to 0.2 and 0.04 milligrams per liter, respectively.
Barium occurs in the water of the Black Creek watershed, typically at concentrations of less than 0.07 milligrams per liter. Beryllium is about as common, with a concentration of less than 0.06 milligrams per liter. Strontium is much more common, with a concentration of up to 4.4 milligrams per liter.
The concentration of titanium in the waters of the Black Creek watershed is less than 0.17 milligrams per liter and the concentration of zirconium is less than 0.055 milligrams per liter. Small amounts (less than 0.01 milligrams per liter) of vanadium, chromium, and molybdenum also occur in the water. The cobalt concentration in mine waters in the watershed ranges from 0.07 to 0.93 milligrams per liter and the nickel concentration ranges from 0.09 to 1.2 milligrams per liter. Copper, silver, tin, and lead also occur in the watershed.
The concentration of chloride ions in the watershed of Black Creek ranges from 0 to 14 milligrams per liter.