Shellpot Creek

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox river

| name = Shellpot Creek

| name_native =

| name_native_lang =

| name_other = Tributary to Delaware River

| name_etymology =

| nickname =

| image = Shellpot Creek-Tarleton Park-2013.jpg

| image_size =

| image_caption = Shellpot Creek at Tarleton Park

| image_alt = Picture of Shellpot Creek at Tarleton Park

| map =

| map_size = 180

| map_caption =

| map_alt = map showing the location of the Shellpot Creek mouth

| pushpin_map = Delaware#USA

| pushpin_map_size = 180

| pushpin_map_caption= Location of Shellpot Creek mouth

| pushpin_map_alt =

| subdivision_type1 = Country

| subdivision_name1 = United States

| subdivision_type2 = State

| subdivision_name2 = Delaware

| subdivision_type3 = County

| subdivision_name3 = New Castle

| subdivision_type4 = City

| subdivision_name4 = Bellefonte, Delaware

| subdivision_type5 =

| subdivision_name5 =

| length = 8.7 miles{{cite web |title=Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) Analysis for Shellpot Creek, Delaware |url=http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/swc/wa/Documents/TMDL_TechnicalAnalysisDocuments/2_ShellpotTMDLAnalysis.pdf#page=1 |publisher=Delaware Division of Water Resources |accessdate=19 May 2019}}

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| discharge1_location=

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| source1 = divide between Shellpot Creek and Brandywine Creek

| source1_location = Between Grubb and Shipley Road in Brandywine Hundred.

| source1_coordinates= {{coord|39|49|19|N|75|31|55|W|display=inline}}{{cite web |title=GNIS Detail - Shellpot Creek |url=https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:3:0::NO::P3_FID,P3_TITLE:214637,Shellpot%20Creek |website=geonames.usgs.gov |accessdate=19 May 2019}}

| source1_elevation = {{convert|340|ft|abbr=on}}{{cite web |title=Shellpot Creek Topo Map, New Castle County DE (Wilmington South Area) |url=https://www.topozone.com/delaware/new-castle-de/stream/shellpot-creek/ |website=TopoZone |publisher=Locality, LLC |accessdate=3 August 2019 |language=en}}

| mouth = Delaware River

| mouth_location = Bellefonte, Delaware

| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|39|44|05|N|75|30|16|W|display=inline}}

| mouth_elevation = {{convert|0|ft|abbr=on}}

| progression = Delaware River → Delaware Bay → Atlantic OceanGeoviewer

| river_system = Delaware River

| basin_size = {{convert|9.32|sqmi}}{{cite web |title=Shellpot Creek Watershed Report |url=https://watersgeo.epa.gov/watershedreport/?comid=24902754 |website=Waters Geoviewer |publisher=US EPA |accessdate=3 August 2019}}

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| tributaries_left = unnamed tributaries

| tributaries_right = Turkey Run
Matson Run

| waterbodies =

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}}

Shellpot Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in northeast New Castle County, Delaware.{{cite web |title=Shellpot Creek Watershed |url=http://www.dnrec.state.de.us/DNREC2000/Library/Water/shellpot.pdf |publisher=DNREC}} The stream rises between Grubb Road and Shipley Road, south of Naaman's Road at {{coord|39|49|19|N|75|31|55|W|type:river}} in Brandywine Hundred and flows southeast for about six miles before discharging into the Delaware River at {{coord|39|44|05|N|75|30|16|W|type:river}} near Edgemoor.{{gnis|214637}}{{cite web|url=http://delawarewatersheds.org/piedmont/shellpotcreek|title=Shellpot Creek - Delaware Watersheds|last=|first=|date=|website=Delaware Watersheds|publisher=Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and University of Delaware, Water Resources Agency|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904202829/http://delawarewatersheds.org/piedmont/shellpotcreek|archive-date=2013-09-04|access-date=}} Prior to 1938, the stream drained into the Brandywine Creek, but was subsequently redirected to the Delaware River.{{cite book|title=A Synoptically Guided Approach to Determining Suburbanization's Impacts on the Hydrology of the Red and White Clay Creeks, Pennsylvania and Delaware|author=Bagwell, Anne Marina|publisher=University of Delaware, Department of Geography|year=2007|isbn=978-0549387145|page=71}}

The watershed has a drainage area of nearly 15 square miles, and is the most suburbanized drainage area in the state-designated "Piedmont Basin" (which consists of the watersheds of the Christina River, Brandywine Creek, Red Clay Creek, White Clay Creek, Naamans Creek, and Shellpot Creek).{{Cite web|url=http://delawarewatersheds.org/piedmont|title=The Piedmont Basin|last=|first=|date=|website=Delaware Watersheds|publisher=Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and University of Delaware, Water Resources Agency|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904205023/http://delawarewatersheds.org/piedmont|archive-date=2013-09-04|access-date=}} New Castle County, the Calpine Edge Moor Power Plant, the former Chemours Edge Moor plant, Amtrak, and the City of Wilmington all discharge storm-water into Shellpot Creek.{{cite web |title=Decision Rationale Total Maximum Daily Loads for Shellpot Creek, New Castle County, Delaware |url=http://www.epa.gov/reg3wapd/tmdl/de_tmdl/ShellpotCreek/ShellpotCrDR.pdf |publisher=EPA}} During Tropical Storm Allison (1989), the creek flooded to record levels, with the flow rising from 1,300 gallons per minute to 3.6 millions of gallons per minute (or more than 8,000 cubic feet per second).{{cite web|url=http://waterdata.usgs.gov/de/nwis/uv/?site_no=01477800|title=USGS 01477800 SHELLPOT CREEK AT WILMINGTON, DE}}

The name is likely derived from the Swedish Sköllpadde Fallet (meaning "Turtle Falls"),{{cite book |title=Delaware: A Guide to the First State |author=Federal Writers' Project |publisher=US History Publishers |year=1938 |page=326 |isbn=9781603540087 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ5OeFvqWRAC&q=Shellpot+Creek&pg=PA326}} and has been historically known as "Schillpades", "Skilpot", and "Shilpot".