V-265 

 SECTION 2. DESCRIPTION AND USES OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY 



In describing the Chesapeake Bay and its uses we have turned to a 

 brief but excellent work by Dr. L. Eugene Cronin, Director of the 

 Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Natural Resources Institute^ 

 University of Maryland (V-7-1) and quote as follows: 



"Chesaoeake Bay [Figure V.7.1] is about 165 nautical miles 

 long, averages less than 20 feet deep with a maximum depth 

 of 175 feet, and contains about 18,520 billion gallons of 

 water. The surface area is 4300 square miles and the shore- 

 line is 4500 miles long. The total drainage basin is 

 74,000 square miles. This includes the Susquehanna River, 

 the largest on the east coast of the United States, which 

 drains 42 percent of the basin and dominates the upper 

 Bay .... The Potomac drains 22 percent of the basin 

 and the Rapoahannock-York-James complex drains about 24 

 percent. There are over 50 tributary rivers, with widely 

 varying geochemical and hydrological characteristics, so 

 that the physical circulation of the Bay is complex. 



"The Bay is the drowned valley of the Susquehanna; its 

 natural deep channels are the only remnants of the original 

 flow-carved riverbed. It is characterized by the presence 

 of great deoosits of fine sediments in the deeper portions. 



