The Locust plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
Locust’s center stands about 1,020 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 800 ft to 1,730 ft, a difference of 930 ft: steep hill country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Catawissa Mountain, about 1,960 ft, 5 miles east-northeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Irish Valley Member of Catskill Formation (siltstone), from the Late Devonian, 359 to 384 million years old.
The section below crosses 7 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 14×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Black-shale. Age: Early Devonian to Middle Devonian, 384 to 422 million years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Shale, siltstone, sandstone. Age: Carboniferous, 324 to 359 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Siltstone, sandstone. Age: Late Devonian, 359 to 384 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Siltstone, shale. Age: Late Devonian, 359 to 384 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Siltstone. Age: Late Devonian, 359 to 384 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Sandstone. Age: Carboniferous, 324 to 359 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 1 smaller unit along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Locust reaches Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean by way of Lick Run, Roaring Creek and the Susquehanna: about 160 river miles.
Lake on the way: Lake Aldred.
100 miles of the trip are on the Susquehanna.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Locust; river miles along the main stem, rounded.