A River Runs Through It

WPC Ecologist Robert Coxe has put together a series exploring the life, history and future of watersheds in Lawrence County. Today, Robert gives us better scientific footing to understand Slippery Rock Creek, which is the fourth in a series of six reports.

At least a stream resembling a river used to run through it. The gorge that Slippery Rock Creek now runs through was created as the result of floodwaters from glacial Lakes Watts (Muddy Creek) and Edmund (Slippery Rock Creek) about 12,000 years ago. A smaller, manmade Lake Arthur now exists where Lake Watts was located. A massive glacial ice mass dammed the lakes, but as it melted the water was able to flow through. Two predominant theories are proposed as to the formation of the Slippery Rock Creek gorge. The prevailing theory says that there was a catastrophic flood over the course of a few weeks following the breaching of the dam. Another theory recently proposed is that a prolonged spring flood formed the gorge over a much longer period of time (D'urso 2000). The gorge we see today is a result of whichever flood occurred.

Today, Slippery Rock Creek is a small whitewater river. The creek drains parts of three counties (Butler, Lawrence and Mercer) flowing into Connoquenessing Creek at Wurtemburg, Pa. The gorge section of the creek is in Lawrence County and is largely protected as a natural area in McConnell's Mill State Park. Upstream of the gorge, the creek flows through strip-mined areas which have impacted the water quality of the stream. In Butler County, Wolf Creek joins Slippery Rock Creek flowing south from Mercer County.

Today's photo, by Robert Coxe, is of Slippery Rock Creek, and was taken downstream of the Kennedy Mill Bridge in the upper part of the gorge.

D'Urso, Gary J. 2000. Revised glacial margins and Wisconsin meltwater paleoflood hydrology in Slippery Rock Creek basin, Central Western Pennsylvania: (Ph.D Dissertation): Morgantown, WV, WVU, 174 pp.

Help WPC achieve its mission.

E-mail Today's WPC Daily to a Friend!

Sign Up for WPC Daily