page_title: White Deer Hole Creek
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: White Deer Hole Creek / Geology
caption_attribution_description: Map of White Deer Hole Creek Watershed in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States
context_page_description: White Deer Hole Creek is a 20.5-mile tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River in Clinton, Lycoming and Union counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin, the White Deer Hole Creek watershed drains parts of ten townships. The creek flows east in a valley of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians, through sandstone, limestone, and shale from the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian periods.
  As of 2006, the creek and its 67.2-square-mile watershed are relatively undeveloped, with 28.4 percent of the watershed given to agriculture and 71.6 percent covered by forest, including part of Tiadaghton State Forest. The western part of White Deer Hole Creek has very high water quality and is the only major creek section in Lycoming County classified as Class A Wild Trout Waters, defined by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission as "streams which support a population of naturally produced trout of sufficient size and abundance to support a long-term and rewarding sport fishery." The rest of the creek and its major tributary are kept stocked.
context_section_description: White Deer Hole Creek is in a sandstone, limestone, and shale mountain region, entirely in the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians. South and North White Deer Ridge and Bald Eagle Mountain are composed of sedimentary Ordovician rock, while the valley rock is Silurian, with a small Devonian region closer to the river, in the north. The watershed has no deposits of coal, nor natural gas or oil fields. The creek is in a narrow mountain valley with steep slopes in its upper reaches. In its middle and lower reaches it has steep mountain slopes to the south, and a wide valley with rolling hills and gentle slopes to the north. The channel pattern is transitional, with a trellised drainage pattern.
  From 1961 to 1995, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) operated one stream gauge on White Deer Hole Creek at the Gap Road bridge (upstream of Elimsport), for the uppermost 18.2 square miles (47 km²) of the watershed. The highest yearly peak discharge measured at this site was 4,200 cubic feet (120 m³) per second and the highest yearly peak gauge height was 11.83 feet (3.61 m), both on June 22, 1972, during Hurricane Agnes. The lowest yearly peak discharge in this time period was 135 cubic feet (3.8 m³) per second and the lowest yearly peak gauge height was 4.29 feet (1.31 m), both on November 26, 1986. The USGS also measured discharge at Allenwood, very near the creek's mouth, as part of water quality measurements on seven occasions between 1970 and 1975. The average discharge was 70.4 cubic feet (1.99 m³) per second, and ranged from a high of 111 cubic feet (3.1 m³) per second to a low of 33 cubic feet (0.93 m³) per second. There are no other known stream gauges on the creek.
caption: The White Deer Hole Creek valley forms a "V" open to the east, defined by South White Deer Ridge to the south, and North White Deer Ridge and Bald Eagle Mountain to the north.
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