Poso Creek

Poso Creek or Posey Creek^[3] is an 87.9-mile (141.5 km)^[2] intermittent stream in Kern County, California.^[1]

The headwaters of Poso Creek are located within the Sierra Nevada and the Sequoia National Forest, at elevations of up to 8,000 feet (2,400 m). The 50-foot (15 m) high Spear Creek Falls (often known as Poso Creek Falls) is located along a tributary of Poso Creek within the national forest.^[4] Poso Creek proper begins at the confluence of Spear Creek and Von Hellem Creek on the west slope of the Greenhorn Mountains. The upper reaches of the creek flow south through the Linn Valley past Posey and Glennville, then to Poso Flat, where it receives Cedar Creek and Little Poso Creek from the east. Below the confluence with Little Poso Creek, it turns west, passing through the Mount Poso and Poso Creek oil fields, which are a likely source of petroleum pollutants during flooding events.^[5]

Below the oil fields the creek emerges to the intensively farmed San Joaquin Valley, where it passes between Wasco and McFarland. The creek is crossed by Highway 99 and the Southern Pacific Railroad at Famoso and by the Friant-Kern Canal a few miles downstream. Most of the lower creek flows through artificial channels beginning north of Wasco. Its mouth is on the Kern River floodway in Kern National Wildlife Refuge, which connects the normally dry Buena Vista Lake with Tulare Lake.

Como arroyo alimentado principalmente por la lluvia, el arroyo Poso fluye solo estacionalmente (de noviembre a mayo) en su curso superior, mientras que la parte inferior es un cauce efímero . ^{[ 5 ] [ 6 ]} El Servicio Geológico de los Estados Unidos operó un medidor de caudal en el arroyo Poso desde 1959 hasta 1985, registrando un caudal anual promedio de 39 pies cúbicos por segundo (1,1 m ³ /s) . ^{[ 7 ]} El caudal máximo fue de 6700 pies cúbicos por segundo (190 m ³ /s) el 25 de febrero de 1969, ^{[ 8 ]} mientras que el arroyo estuvo seco durante seis meses consecutivos en 1977. ^{[ 7 ]}  

Este arroyo es la localidad tipo del pez " Luxilis occidentalis " Baird & Girard , 1854 , que ahora se sabe que es sinónimo de Lavinia exilicauda . ^{[ 9 ]}