Northkill Creek

Northkill
Creek
Name origin: Kille is middle Dutch for "water channel"
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
Tributaries
- left	Wolf Creek
- right	Mollhead Creek, Little Northkill Creek
Cities	Bernville, Pennsylvania, Strausstown, Pennsylvania, Shartlesville, Pennsylvania, New Shaefferstown, Pennsylvania
Source	Blue Mountain, Pennsylvania
Mouth	Tulpehocken Creek
- coordinates	40°25′31″N 76°06′45″W / 40.4252°N 76.1124°W / 40.4252; -76.1124Coordinates: 40°25′31″N 76°06′45″W / 40.4252°N 76.1124°W / 40.4252; -76.1124
Length	11 mi (18 km)
Basin	42 sq mi (109 km2)
Animal	Brook trout, Brown trout
Location of the mouth in Pennsylvania

Northkill Creek is a stream primarily located in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It feeds into Tulpehocken Creek and covers part of the Schuylkill River and Delaware River watersheds. Northkill Creek and its tributaries are high quality trout streams.

Northkill Creek begins in the Northkill Gap on Blue Mountain near Shartlesville. The creek flows nearly 11 miles (18 km) roughly south to its confluence with Tulpehocken Creek just south of Bernville. Tributaries include Little Northkill, Mollhead and Wolf Creeks. The confluence with Little Northkill Creek is at Bernville. Northkill Creek's watershed covers approximately 42 square miles (110 km²) in Jefferson, Penn, Tulpehocken, Upper Bern and Upper Tulpehocken Townships and Bernville Borough in Berks County and South Manheim and Wayne Townships in Schuylkill County. The Little Northkill sub-watershed drains 52.5% of this area and provides approximately 60% of the total flow.

The bedrock is primarily sandstone interbedded with shale, slate, quartzite, chert and limestone fragments. Blue Mountain is underlain by sandstone, with quartz-rich rock. More moderate slopes are underlain by shale. This bedrock does not provide significant ability to neutralize acidic pollution. The shale component limits the bedrock's water-bearing properties and hence draught resistance.