Little Darby Creek
Little Darby Creek in Villanova, Pennsylvania
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationRadnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
 • elevationbetween 380 and 400 feet (120 and 120 m)
Mouth 
 • location
Darby Creek in Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
 • coordinates
40°00′47″N 75°23′17″W / 40.0130°N 75.3881°W / 40.0130; -75.3881
 • elevation
223 ft (68 m)
Length2.6 mi (4.2 km)
Basin size3.51 sq mi (9.1 km2)
Basin features
ProgressionDarby Creek → Delaware River → Delaware Bay
Tributaries 
 • leftJulip Run
 • rightWigwam Run

Little Darby Creek is a tributary of Darby Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 2.6 miles (4.2 km) long and flows through Radnor Township.[1]

Course

Little Darby Creek begins just south of U.S. Route 30 near the community of Wayne, Pennsylvania. It flows south-southeast for several tenths of a mile before turning southeast and entering the Mill Club Pond. Shortly thereafter, it receives an unnamed tributary from the right. It turns south and receives Julip Run from the left and an unnamed tributary from the right. Little Darby Creek then turns southeast and parallels Darby Paoli Road for a stretch. The creek receives Wigwam Run from the right and flows southward. After several hundred feet, it reaches its confluence with Darby Creek.[1]

Little Darby Creek joins Darby Creek 20.8 miles (33.5 km) upriver of its mouth.[2]

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Little Darby Creek is 223 feet (68 m) above sea level.[3] The elevation of the creek's source is between 380 and 400 feet (120 and 120 m) above sea level.[1]

Little Darby Creek is within the Piedmont Uplands physiographic province. The Piedmont Uplands section has generally old, hard upland rocks that eroded from the Appalachian Mountains. The rocks in the watershed date to the Precambrian Era and Lower Paleozoic Era. The surficial geology mainly consist of felsic gneiss and mafic gneiss formations, with small amounts of serpentinite near the mouth of the creek.[4]

Two soil associations exist in the Little Darby Creek watershed. The Neshaminy-Lehigh-Glenlg soil association is prevalent in much of the watershed. It consists of silty, well drained, gravelly, and deep soil that rests on gabbro and granodiorite bedrock. The Chester-Glenlg-Manor soil association is prevalent through the middle of the watershed. It consists of silty, channery, and shallow to deep soil that rests on brown schist and gneiss bedrock. Most of the watershed is considered to have slightly erodible soil.[5]

Watershed

The watershed of Little Darby Creek has an area of 3.51 square miles (9.1 km2).[2] The entire creek is in the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of Valley Forge.[3] The majority of the land use is considered residential with some open space.[5] The creek periodically floods during large rain events. Culverts along the creek tend to be undersized.[6] The lower 1.73 miles of Little Darby Creek are considered to be impaired.[7]

History

Little Darby Creek was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1179519.[3]

A bridge over Little Darby Creek at the Willows park

Several bridges have been built across Little Darby Creek. A masonry arch bridge with a length of 24 feet (7.3 m) carries Darby Paoli Road over the creek and was built in 1840.[8]

Biology

The drainage basin of Little Darby Creek is a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.[9] It is in approved trout waters.[10] Recently it has been overgrown with kudzu, a high-climbing perennial vine from eastern Asia. This extremely invasive plant was promoted by the Soil Conservation Service in the 1930s as a means of controlling erosion. Its vines are killed by frosts every year but the fleshy roots survive.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 United States Geological Survey, The National Map Viewer, archived from the original on March 29, 2012, retrieved May 2, 2015
  2. 1 2 Pennsylvania Gazetteer of Streams (PDF), November 2, 2001, p. 86, retrieved May 2, 2015
  3. 1 2 3 Geographic Names Information System, Feature Detail Report for: Little Darby Creek, retrieved May 6, 2015
  4. 1 2 Cahill Associates (2004), Darby Creek Watershed Conservation Plan (PDF), Darby Creek Valley Association, pp. 76, 78, 80, archived from the original (PDF) on December 30, 2013, retrieved May 6, 2015
  5. 1 2 Delaware County Planning Department (January 2005), Darby and Cobbs Creek Watershed Act 167 Stormwater Management Plan (PDF), pp. 32, 39, 47, 56, 71, retrieved December 24, 2013
  6. ↑ Radnor Township (December 2010), Stormwater Management Survey of Radnor Township, Pennsylvania, archived from the original on May 18, 2015, retrieved May 7, 2015
  7. ↑ Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Watershed Management, Watershed Restoration Action Strategy (WRAS) State Water Plan Subbasin 03G Darby, Crum, Ridley, Chester and Cobbs Creeks Watersheds (Delaware River Estuary) Delaware, Chester and Philadelphia Counties, pp. 1–2, 6–8, 10, retrieved April 24, 2015
  8. ↑ "Delaware County", Uglybridges.com, retrieved May 11, 2015
  9. ↑ "§ 93.9g. Drainage List G. Delaware River Basin in Pennsylvania Delaware River", Pennsylvania Code, retrieved May 6, 2015
  10. ↑ Dave Wolf (2007), Flyfisher's Guide to Pennsylvania, Wilderness Adventures Press, p. 85, ISBN 9781932098518, retrieved December 9, 2013
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