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CHESAPEAKE BAY NOTES
Estuary:
Body of water where fresh and salt water mixes
Largest of the 130 estuaries in the United States
Size of the Chesapeake Bay:
Virginia
Maryland
Pennsylvania
DE
NJ
200 miles in length
3.4 miles to 25 miles wide
Volume: 15 Trillion Gallons
Depth Range: 0-174 feetAverage Depth: 21 feet
11,684 miles of shoreline
Watershed:
An area of land that drains to a particular river, lake, bay or other body of water
Bay Creation - Meteor
A meteor crashed, setting the stage for the bay to be formed
The resultant crater is called the Exmore Crater
Bay Creation - Glaciers
The movement and melting of the glacier during the last ice age caused the creation of the streams and rivers that make up the Chesapeake Bay
Salinity of the Bay:
Salinity of the bay increases as you head south
Freshwater comes in from the rivers so the top is essentially freshwater
Incre
asin
g
Salin
ity
Composition of Water:
Sources of dissolved materials: Decomposition of dead organisms Live organisms releasing compounds
directly Organic and inorganic materials enter
through tributaries
Dissolved Gases:
Dissolved oxygen is affected by temperature and salinity
Dissolved carbon dioxide is necessary for plants and comes from respiration of organisms
Nitrogen and phosphorus are also necessary for organisms, however, due to run-off they can be in poisonous concentrations
Food Web:
Most energy and largest volume of organisms found at the bottom
Less and less energy is transferred through each trophic level because it is used or lost as heat
Contaminants ingested by each level get passed along in increasing amounts through the food web