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Research about Pennsylvania

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Pennsylvania.

At least 649 records · Page 36Linked to original sources
USGS1972

Map showing flood of June 1972 resulting from tropical storm Agnes, West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

In June 1972, tropical storm Agnes caused severe flooding in Pennsylvania and southern New York. The floods on many major streams were the highest known since the river valleys were settled. Maximum discharges were as much as twice the discharge of a 50-year flood. In central Pennsylvania, large areas in Lock Haven, Mill Hall, Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Pittston, Harrisburg, and in many smaller communities were inundated to depths of several feet. The extent of flooding shown on the map was delineated by the U.S. Geological Survey from field surveys made soon after the flood.

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USGS1972

Status of flood-plain mapping, greater Pittsburgh region, Pennsylvania, 1972

Flood plains that have a history of inundation or have a reasonable probability of being flooded, of course, need adequate attention in land-use planning, management, and development programs. Flood-plain maps and flood-plain-information reports are means of identifying these critical areas for special consideration.

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USGS1972

The Shawangunk Formation (Upper Ordovician(?) to Middle Silurian) in eastern Pennsylvania

The Shawangunk Formation of Early and Middle Silurian age, and possibly Late Ordovician age, in eastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey forms a thick clastic wedge of sediments derived from sourcelands to the southeast uplifted during the Taconic orogeny. The formation is divided into four newly denned members, from bottom to top: Weiders Member (coarse conglomerate and quartzose sandstone), Minsi Member (quartzose conglomeratic sandstone and minor argillite), Lizard Creek Member (complex sequence of quartzose sandstone, siltstone, shale, and a few red beds, with sparse fauna), and Tammany Member (quartzose conglomeratic sandstone and minor argillite). The Weiders Member pinches out to the east near Smith Gap. The Tammany Member cannot be conveniently mapped west of Smith Gap because of interfingering with and replacement by beds of the Lizard Creek Member. The contact of the Shawangunk with the underlying Martinsburg Formation is an angular unconformity. The boundary between the Shawangunk and overlying Bloomsburg Red Beds is irregular and transitional through about 130-700 feet of red, green, and gray rocks. Sedimentary features in the Shawangunk indicate that the sediments were deposited by streams and in a complex transitional marinecontinental environment, including tidal flats, barrier bars, estuaries, and lagoons.

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USGS1972

Hydrology of the Martinsburg Formation in Lehigh and Northampton Counties, Pennsylvania

The Martinsburg Formation underlies the northern half of Lehigh and Northampton Counties, and is of Middle and LateOrdovician age. It is bounded on the south by older Ordovician limestone formations and on the north by a ridge-forming conglomerate of Silurian age. Recent mapping has supported a three-part division of the Martinsburg into a lower thin-bedded slate {Bushkill Member), a middle graywacke-bearing unit (Ramseyburg Member), and an upper thick-bedded slate (Pen Argyl Member).

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USGS1972

Water resources of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania

Lehigh County occupies an area of 347 square miles in southeastern Pennsylvania. The northern part of Lehigh County is underlain by the Martinsburg Formation, which consists chiefly of shale and slate. The central part of the county, where most of the population centers are located and much of the urbanization is occurring, is underlain by alternating beds of limestone and dolomite. From oldest to youngest, these carbonate rocks are the Leithsville Formation, the Allentown Formation, the Beekmantown Group, and the Jacksonburg Formation. The southern part of the county is underlain chiefly by the shales, sandstones, and conglomerates of the Brunswick Formation and by metamorphic and igneous rocks.

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USGS1971

Acidity control in Bald Eagle Creek and West Branch Susquehanna River, Clinton County, Pennsylvania

Regression analysis of chemical and physical data collected on Beech Creek resulted in two curves that relate the concentration of free hydrogen ion to the electrical specific conductance of the water. These curves provide a means of estimating, through use of data telemetered from a water-quality monitor on Beech Creek, the acid load in the stream at any time. These estimates of acid loads in Beech Creek will enable the operators of Foster Joseph Sayers Dam on Bald Eagle Creek to release sufficient alkaline water from the reservoir to prevent fish kills in lower Bald Eagle Creek that could be caused by the acid from Beech Creek. The acid content of the West Branch Susquehanna River upstream from the city of Lock Haven usually exceeds the amount that can be neutralized by Bald Eagle Creek. However, inasmuch as the alkaline content of 13ald Eagle Creek exceeds the amount required to effectively neutralize the acidity of Beech Creek, some water may be conserved in the reservoir for the purpose of improving the quality of the West Branch when the river is unusually acid.

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USGS1971

Effects of roadway and pond construction on sediment yield near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

This report shows the effects that the construction of half a mile of one-lane roadway during June, July, and August 1970 and construction of a 5-acre pond during August and September 1970, had on sediment concentrations and sediment discharge of a stream draining an area of 0.76 square mile. The effects of the construction are shown by comparing the data collected from the affected basin with data collected from a similar adjacent basin, unaffected by construction. During the pond construction, base-flow sediment concentrations increased from the expected 6 mg/1 (milligrams per liter) to an average of 35 mg/l. Sediment discharge during June through December 1970 attributable to the construction was 55 tons, two-thirds of the amount normally expected during a year.

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USGS1971

Hydrology of two small river basins in Pennsylvania before urbanization, with a section on observation of stream fauna

Basic data on water quantity, chemical quality, and suspended sediment are tabulated to record the conditions existing in two basins near Philadelphia, each about 32 square miles in area. The basins in 1970 are agricultural land for the most part, but urban and industrial development is imminent as the Philadelphia metropolitan area expands. Hopefully, as changes caused by urbanization occur in future years, data published herein will be useful as a base for comparison. Pickering Creek basin has a higher population than the upper East Branch Brandywine Creek basin. The two are comparable in discharge characteristics and in shapes and sizes of channels, but the Pickering Creek basin is producing a considerably larger suspended-sediment load. Also the effects of urbanization are discernible in some chemical parameters. During the study, a small subbasin, one-half square mile in area, was converted from agricultural use to an industrial park. This change resulted in a marked increase in sulfates, nitrates, chlorides, and dissolved solids in the streamflow.

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USGS1970

Chemical and biological conditions in Bald Eagle Creek and prognosis of trophic characteristics of Foster Joseph Sayers Reservoir, Centre County, Pennsylvania

Foster Joseph Sayers. Reservoir will b.e impounded on moderately fertile soils; however, its water source, Bald Eagle Creek, is a bicarbonate-water stream that is over~y-enriched with nutrients. About 650 of the 1,730 acres to be inundated in summer are subject to infestation with aquatic weeds. Nuisance algal "blooms" are expected to occur in summer. The reservoir will stratify in early summer and water · releas·ed for conservation purposes and acid neutralization will consist mostly of hypolimnetic water. This water will be nearly depleted in. dissolved oxygen and will, at times, contain relatively high concentrations of heavy metallic ions and hydrogen:!sulfide.

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USGS1969

Extent and frequency of inundation on the Perkiomen Creek flood plain from Green Lane Reservoir to the Schuylkill River (near Oaks, Pennsylvania)

This is the fourth report on the extent and frequency of inundation prepared for the Delaware River Basin Commission. The first of these reports covered floods on the Delaware River in the vicinity of Easton, Pennsylvania and Phillipsburg, New Jersey. The second covered a reach of the Schuylkill River from Conshohocken to Philadelphia. The third was for the Delaware River in the vicinity of Belvidere, New Jersey. The first and third reports were written by George M. Farlekas of the Trenton district, and the second was written by Arthur T. Alter of the Harrisburg district. Specific information as to the areal extent and contents of these studies can be obtained from the Delaware River Basin Commission, P.O. Box 360, Trenton, New Jersey. This flood inundation study is part of an investigative program financed through a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Delaware River Basin Commission. The report was prepared under the direction of Norman H. Beamer, District, Chief, U.S. Geological Survey, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The streamflow data for Perkiomen Creek at Graterford were collected by the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters from 1914 to 1931. Since 1931 the data have been collected under a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of Forests and Waters. Data on high-water marks and areas inundated in past periods of flooding have been obtained from many local residents of Montgomery County. The Reading Company cooperated by allowing survey crews to work on their right-of-way. The author is grateful to Mr. John W. Buchanan for surveys, Mr. Lewis C. Shaw for illustrations and to Mrs. Joan C. King for typing.

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