What makes up Chesapeake Bay?

What makes up Chesapeake Bay?

The Chesapeake Bay watershed stretches from Cooperstown, New York, to Norfolk, Virginia, and includes parts of six states—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia—and the entire District of Columbia.

What kind of landform is the Chesapeake Bay?

Atlantic Coastal Plain The landscape of eastern Maryland is dominated by the Chesapeake Bay and the low-lying Coastal Plain that surrounds it.

Is the Chesapeake Bay salt or fresh water?

Chesapeake Bay salinity In general, the lower Chesapeake Bay is salty and the upper Bay is fresh. Salinity gradually decreases as you move north, farther away from the ocean, and increases as you move south. Salinity is highest at the mouth of the Bay—averaging 25 to 30 ppt—where water from the Atlantic Ocean enters.

Is the Chesapeake Bay man made?

Jagged shorelines and peninsulas shaped like crooked fingers make the Chesapeake a gorgeous place to explore. Some people are content to gaze at the scenery and enjoy what Mother Nature gave us. Others choose to alter the master plan.

Is the Chesapeake Bay really a Bay?

The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary: a body of water where fresh and salt water mix. It is the largest of more than 100 estuaries in the United States and third largest in the world. The Bay itself is about 200 miles long, stretching from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia.

What organisms live in the Chesapeake Bay?

The Bay is home to many fish, from the Bay anchovy to the sandbar shark. It supports blue crabs, horshoe crabs and American oysters. In fact, humans get over 500 million pounds of seafood from the Bay each year! Sea turtles, eels, dolphins, rays, seahorses, and jellyfish also fill the Bay waters.

What type of estuary is the Chesapeake Bay?

coastal plain estuary
The Chesapeake Bay, on the East Coast of the United States, is a coastal plain estuary.

Why is the Chesapeake Bay brackish?

Most of the water in the Bay, including in the middle portion of the Bay and its tidal rivers, is brackish. Snow melt and heavy rainfall in later winter and early spring push more water past Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River. The river provides roughly half of the fresh water reaching the Chesapeake Bay.

Where is the hole in the Chesapeake Bay?

A few deep troughs run along much of the Bay’s length and are believed to be remnants of the ancient Susquehanna River. The deepest part of the Bay, located southeast of Annapolis near Bloody Point, is called “The Hole” and is 174 feet deep.

How many shark attacks have there been in the Chesapeake Bay?

According the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, there has never been a recorded shark bite in the Chesapeake Bay. You’re actually more likely to die from a lightning strike than a shark attack.

How big is the Chesapeake Bay in miles?

See Article History. Chesapeake Bay, largest inlet in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the eastern United States. Created by the submergence of the lower courses of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, it is 193 miles (311 km) long and 3 to 25 miles (5 to 40 km) wide.

What kind of sediments are in the Chesapeake Bay?

When the sea level rose, water covered the Coastal Plain, depositing marine sediments to form a type of sand that geologists call the Chesapeake Group. Thirty-five million years ago a warm, humid tropical rain forest covered the Appalachian Mountains.

Where does the water in the Chesapeake Bay come from?

The Bay contains two distinct layers of water. Warmer, less dense freshwater flows near the surface of the Bay from the north to the south and into the Atlantic Ocean. Denser, colder, and saltier ocean water flows near the bottom of the channel from the ocean up into the Bay.

How big was the crater in the Chesapeake Bay?

The Chesapeake Bay impact was a dramatic event, but the Chicxulub crater was formed by an impactor perhaps 2-3 times larger. The Chicxulub crater is over 100 miles in diameter. As happened with the Chesapeake Bay crater, sediments also covered the site of the Chicxulub crater, burying it partially under the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.6