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Bpsin and climatological characteristics, quality-assurance data and results, and water-resources data for North Fork Bens Creek, in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are available from August 1983 through September 1988. The basin is underlain by sedimentary rocks of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age, and has an anticlinal structure. Soils are predominantly stony silt clays and have pH values ranging from 3.6 to 5.5. The lowest temperature [-30.0C (degrees Celsius)] was recorded during January 1985, and the highest temperature (36.7C) was recorded during July 1988. Snowfall accumulates mostly during January and February. Annual snowfall averages about 69 inches. Average wind speed is highest during winter, about 11 miles per hour. Solar radiation is most intense from late May to early June; typically, solar radiation is highest during the growing season. Pan evaporation averages 0.17 inches per day (in/day) during the growing season and 0.02 in/day during the nongrowing season. Sulfur dioxide and sulfate contaminants in the air have declined since 1977. Nitrogen dioxide and nitrates have remained constant. Emissions of sulfates and nitrates are high in the adjacent western counties; loads of these contaminants in individual counties range from 1,000 to 450,000 tons per year. Average volume-weighted pH for precipitation in western Pennsylvania is about 4.0. Quality-assurance procedures showed that chemical data collected from August 1983 through February 1986 were satisfactory. Precision values of quality data for March 1986 through September 1988 are marginal to satisfactory. Negative alkalinities were observed during water years 1984, 1986, and 1988. Continuous precipitation data are available from October 1983 through September 1988. Precipitation was typically higher than normal for the 1984, 1985, and 1986 water years. Continuous streamflow data are available for water years 1985 and 1988. Seventy percent of annual flows occur during the nongrowing season. Monthly flow"typically is highest in March. The maximum recorded discharge of 92 cubic feet per second was observed on March 31, 1985. 0-3.5 5-4.0 5-4.0 5-4.0 5-4.0 ability of the soil to hold water and make it available to plants (U.S.