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DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA 



GENERAL FEATURES 



Chesapeake Bay lies between 76 and 76 30' north latitude and 37 

 to 39 30' west longitude. It is approximately 165 miles long, extending 

 from north of the Susquehanna River south to its juncture with Atlantic 

 between Cape Charles and Cape Henry, Virginia (which capes are miles apart), 

 It varies from 5 to 20 nautical miles in width; occupies 3,015 nautical 

 square miles; the maximum depths are about 55 m but 50 percent of the area 

 is less than 7 m deep and 8 percent is greater than 20 m deep; the mean 

 depth is 7 to 9 m. Along its 4,600 miles of coastline, eleven major 

 rivers, 50 large tributaries and 150 rivers and creeks drain into 

 Chesapeake Bay through a series of sounds, tidal river embayments and 

 tributaries. This has shaped the shoreline into a long and narrow central 

 axis, the sides of which (particularly the western edge) are irregularly 

 digitated by the tidal river estuaries. On the west shore and proceding 

 south from the headwaters the following rivers enter the Bay: Susquehanna, 

 Patapsco (Baltimore Harbor area), Severn, Patuxent , Potomac, Rappahannock, 

 York and James. On the eastern shore, the Choptank, Nanticoke and Wicomico 

 Rivers are the most important. 



Chesapeake Bay, which has a drainage basin of 74,000 square miles, 

 is the drowned estuary of the Susquehanna River (largest river in the 

 eastern U. S.) which drains about 42 percent of this watershed. Runoff 

 from the Susquehanna River controls the environmental condition of upper 

 Chesapeake Bay. It contributes 49 percent of the annual freshwater 



