Petticoat Creek (Canada)

Petticoat Creek
Mouth of Petticoat Creek.
Location of the mouth of Petticoat Creek in Southern Ontario
Location
CountryCanada
ProvinceOntario
RegionGreater Toronto Area
Municipalities
Physical characteristics
SourceConfluence of two unnamed streams
  locationMarkham
  coordinates43°52′45″N 79°11′22″W / 43.87922394143364°N 79.18946912657846°W / 43.87922394143364; -79.18946912657846
  elevation195 m (640 ft)
MouthLake Ontario
  location
Pickering
  coordinates
43°48′15″N 79°06′15″W / 43.80417°N 79.10417°W / 43.80417; -79.10417
  elevation
74 m (243 ft)
Basin size26.77 km2 (10.34 sq mi)
Basin features
River systemGreat Lakes Basin

Petticoat Creek is a stream in the cities of Pickering, Toronto and Markham in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. The creek is in the Great Lakes Basin, is a tributary of Lake Ontario, and falls under the auspices of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Its watershed covers 26.77 square kilometres (10.34 sq mi), and the cumulative length of all its branches is 49 kilometres (30 mi). Land use in the watershed consists of 52% agricultural, 27% protected greenspace and 21% urban.

The "Petticoat Creek watershed is dominated by the South Slope physiographic region, a smooth, faintly drumlinized till plain."

Because the creek is not long enough for its headwaters to lie within the groundwater rich Oak Ridges Moraine, waterflow on the upper reaches is intermittent and dependent on precipitation. Lower reaches, below the ancient shoreline of glacial Lake Iroquois, is more consistent.