Bay of Chesapeake

Geography and geology

Geography

The basin of the estuary covers: 166534 km ² and are sprinkled of more than 150 Rivière S or Fleuve S of which most important are the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the James River, the Rappahannock, the Patuxent, the Choptank, the Nanticoke and the Pocomoke. The principal arm of bay makes approximately 300 km length, extending from Susquehanna to north to the ocean to the south. Its width goes from 6,4 km (with broad of Annapolis) to 50 km (with the mouth of Potomac).

On the whole, the shores of bay cover: 18800 kilometers and the surface of this one and its principal Affluent S is of: 11600 km ². Most of bay is far from deep (less than 2 meters of depth on more: 2800 km ², 9 meters on average).

The bay itself belonged to six States different (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia-Western Virginia and ) as well as District from Columbia.

Geology

The bay is a Aber of Susquehanna. Its form at summer most probably assigned by the impact of a meteor to the end of the Eocene 35 million years ago whose crater was discovered in 1983.

Part of the coasts of bay is bordered by cliff S cut by the retreat of water a few million years ago. These cliffs are very known for many the Fossile S that one finds there (in particular teeth of Requin S whom one can easily discover on the beaches surrounding cliffs).

History

The first detailed chart of bay of Chesapeake goes back to 1612 and is established following a forwarding of a dozen people carried out by the captain John Smith in 1607 and 1608.

September 5th, 1781, during the War of independence of the United States, the French Marine ordered by the admiral François Joseph de Grasse demolishes the Royal Navy in this bay. This victory contributes to lead to the independence of the United States.

Ecology

The Climat of the area is of type Eastern frontage of continent with hot and wet summers and soft and rainy winters.

Historically, the word Chesepiooc comes from the algonquin meaning " good zone of pêche". Indeed, the bay was then known for its large variety of fish and seafood (in particular the crab S, the Huître S and the Anguille S), causing even the construction of a type of special fishing vessel, named Skipjack dedicated to the harvest of oysters. Nowadays, the bay is much less productive, because of pollution coming from the urban areas (mainly on western bank) and from the cultures (of the bank east). The annual harvest of fish and seafood is assembled on average has 40 000 tons per year.

In the years 70 the bay knows the unhappy privilege to be the first place of planet declared marine dead zone , namely where water Hypoxique S is so low in Oxygène that no life can develop to with it. Large surfaces of Algue S are formed, preventing the sunlight from reaching the bottom of water. The loss of any vegetable life of course had a heavy impact on maritime fauna.

The combined of local governments and federal efforts as well as foundation Chesapeake Bay Foundation to restore or (all at least) to maintain water quality currently produce mitigated results, the coming main issue owing to the fact that the majority of the companies polluting water of bay are very upstream.

See too

Internal bonds

Hampton Roads

External bonds

Newspaper of bay of Chesapeake
National Geographic - '' Saving The Chesapeake ''
National Geographic - History of the exploration of the bay
Site of the '' Chesapeake Bay Foundation ''

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