Journal of Geography and Earth Sciences

Understanding Lower Neshaminy Creek Direction Change and Barbed Tributary Evidence, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA
Eric Clausen

Abstract
Neshaminy Creek is located in southeast Pennsylvania (USA) and flows in a southeast direction through a series of incised meanders roughly parallel to the nearby southeast-oriented Delaware River before turning to flow in southwest, south, northeast, and south directions before reaching the Delaware River, which has also abruptly turned to become a southwest-oriented river. Throughout their parallel southeast-oriented courses northeast-oriented barbed tributaries join both the Delaware River and Neshaminy Creek and shallow northeast- to southwest-oriented through valleys cross the Delaware River-Neshaminy Creek drainage divide. These drainage features formed when massive southwest-oriented floods of possible glacial melt water origin flowed across southeast Pennsylvania. The deep southwest-oriented Delaware River channel segment first eroded headward along what was probably a major southwest-oriented flood flow channel and the southeast-oriented Neshaminy Creek valley then eroded headward from it to capture southwest-oriented flood flow with the southeast-oriented Delaware River valley segment next eroding headward across the same southwest-oriented flood flow. Northeast-oriented (and barbed) Neshaminy Creek and Delaware River tributaries and the northeast-oriented Neshaminy Creek channel segment were developed by reversals of flow on northeast ends of beheaded southwest-oriented flood flow channels.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jges.v5n2a1