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122-738: The bay is approximately 200 miles (320 km) long from its northern headwaters in the Susquehanna River to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean. It is 2.8 miles (4.5 km) wide at its narrowest (between Kent County's Plum Point near Newtown in the east and the Harford County western shore near Romney Creek) and 30 miles (48 km) at its widest (just south of the mouth of the Potomac River which divides Maryland from Virginia). Total shoreline including tributaries

244-419: A drilling core taken off Atlantic City, New Jersey , about 170 miles (274 km) to the north. The layer contained the fused glass beads called tektites and shocked quartz grains that are unmistakable signs of a bolide impact. In 1993, data from oil exploration revealed the extent of the crater. The continual slumping of the rubble within the crater has affected the flow of the rivers and shaped

366-569: A net height of 1,009 feet (308 m) between basins, requiring the use of more than 100 water locks , which were too expensive to be maintained under the new competition. The Susquehanna River figures in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement . It holds that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the priesthood from heavenly beings at a site along the Susquehanna and performed their first baptisms of Latter Day Saints in

488-641: A number of species, adding oxygen to the water and improving water clarity." Other vegetation that makes its home in other parts of the bay are wild rice , various trees like the red maple , loblolly pine and bald cypress , and spartina grass and phragmites . Invasive plants have taken a significant foothold in the bay. Plants such as Phragmites, Purple loosestrife and Japanese stiltgrass have established high levels of permanency in Chesapeake wetlands. Additionally, plants such as Brazilian waterweed , native to South America, have spread to most continents with

610-524: A succession of water gaps in a broad zigzag course to flow across the rural heartland of southeastern Pennsylvania and northeastern Maryland in the lateral near-parallel array of mountain ridges. The river empties into the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Perryville and Havre de Grace, Maryland , providing half of the Bay's freshwater inflow. The bay lies in the flooded valley, or ria , of

732-697: A third major language family, with their peoples occupying much of the middle areas of the interior. Algongquian-speaking peoples predominated in the coastal areas. Iroquoian speakers , such as the Cherokee and Tuscarora peoples , generally occupied areas to the interior near the Piedmont and foothills. In 1615, the river was traversed by the French explorer Étienne Brûlé . In the 1670s the Conestoga, or Susquehannock people, succumbed to Iroquois conquest by

854-708: A village location at the bay's mouth." The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary to the North Atlantic, lying between the Delmarva Peninsula to the east and the North American mainland to the west. It is the ria , or drowned valley, of the Susquehanna River , meaning that it was the alluvial plain where the river flowed when the sea level was lower. It is not a fjord , because the Laurentide Ice Sheet never reached as far south as

976-707: Is 11,684 miles (18,804 km), circumnavigating a surface area of 4,479 square miles (11,601 km). Average depth is 21 feet (6.4 m), reaching a maximum of 174 feet (53 m). The bay is spanned twice, in Maryland by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from Sandy Point (near Annapolis ) to Kent Island and in Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel connecting Virginia Beach to Cape Charles . Known for both its beauty and bounty,

1098-598: Is a near threatened species that inhabits the wetlands. Larger fish such as Atlantic sturgeon , varieties of sharks, and stingrays visit the Chesapeake Bay. The waters of the Chesapeake Bay have been regarded as one of the most important nursery areas for sharks along the east coast. Megafaunas such as bull sharks , tiger sharks , scalloped hammerhead sharks , and basking sharks and manta rays are also known to visit. Smaller species of sharks and stingrays that are known to be regular to occasional residents in

1220-478: Is a growing industry in the bay. Oyster aquaculture is passive in that the bay provides all the natural oyster food needed, making it an environmentally friendly practice in contrast to other kinds of fish farming. Oyster farms provide jobs as well as a natural effort for filtering excess nutrients from the water in an effort to reduce the effects of eutrophication pollution (too much algae). The Chesapeake Bay Program promotes oyster restoration projects to reduce

1342-410: Is a main feature for tourists who visit Maryland and Virginia each year. Fishing, crabbing, swimming, boating, kayaking, and sailing are extremely popular activities enjoyed on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. As a result, tourism has a notable impact on Maryland's economy. One report suggested that Annapolis was an appealing spot for families, water sports and boating. Commentator Terry Smith spoke about

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1464-515: Is a practical ferry for up to four vehicles and 50 passengers, while the Pride of the Susquehanna , based at Harrisburg, provides a passenger-only pleasure cruise. Most of the canals have been filled in or are partially preserved as a part of historical parks. Dams generally are used to generate power or to provide lakes for recreation. The environmental group American Rivers named the Susquehanna " America's Most Endangered River for 2005 " because of

1586-412: Is approximately 20 miles (32 km) long; it has trestle bridges as well as two stretches of two-mile-long (3.2 km) tunnels that allow unimpeded shipping; the bridge is supported by four 5.25-acre (21,200 m) man-made islands. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge – Tunnel was opened for two lanes in 1964 and four lanes in 1999. Tides in the Chesapeake Bay exhibit an interesting and unique behavior due to

1708-791: Is regarded by many as one of the premier bass fishing rivers in North America. Canoe races are held annually on various sections of the river, such as the amateur race held in Oneonta, New York . Susquehanna rowing and paddling have a long history. Starting in 1874, rowers from Shamokin Dam, Pennsylvania , raced men from Sunbury . The General Clinton Canoe Regatta, a 70-mile (110 km) flat-water race, takes place each year in Bainbridge, New York , on Memorial Day weekend. Binghamton University Crew and Hiawatha Island Boat Club are also located on

1830-645: Is the longest river on the East Coast of the United States . By watershed area, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States, and also the longest river in the early 21st-century continental United States without commercial boat traffic. The Susquehanna River forms from two main branches: the North Branch , which rises in Cooperstown, New York , and is regarded by federal mapmakers as

1952-470: The Chernobyl nuclear accident . The remaining reactor at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station was shut down in 2019. In 2015, a smallmouth bass with a rare, cancerous tumor was caught from the river, raising renewed concerns about toxic materials and water pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency reported, "we do not have sufficient data at this time to scientifically support listing

2074-587: The Civil War 's 1863 Gettysburg Campaign , Union Major General Darius N. Couch , commander of the Department of the Susquehanna , resolved that Robert E. Lee 's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia would not cross the Susquehanna. He positioned militia units under Maj. Granville Haller to protect key bridges in Harrisburg and Wrightsville , as well as nearby fords. Confederate forces reached

2196-620: The Endless Mountains in the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania. It receives the Lackawanna River southwest of Scranton and turns sharply to the southwest, flowing through the former anthracite industrial heartland in the mountain ridges of northeastern Pennsylvania, past Pittston City ( Greater Pittston ), Wilkes-Barre , Nanticoke , Shickshinny , Berwick , Bloomsburg , and Danville , before receiving

2318-569: The Lenape (Delaware) word siskëwahane meaning "Muddy River". Alternatively, it may come from the Lenape (Delaware) term Sisa'we'hak'hanna , which means "Oyster River". Oyster beds were widespread in the bay near the mouth of the river, which the Lenape farmed. They left oyster shell middens at their villages. A third account translates "Susquehanna" from the Susquehannock language , of

2440-803: The Monongahela , Allegheny Rivers and their confluence into the Ohio River flowing southwest towards the Mississippi River . The 82-mile (132 km) Union Canal was completed in 1828 to connect the Schuylkill River (flowing southeast towards the Delaware River at Philadelphia ) at Reading westwards to the Susquehanna River above the state capital of Harrisburg . Competition from faster transport via

2562-653: The Ohio River . In 1792, the Union Canal was proposed in order to link the Susquehanna and the Delaware rivers in Pennsylvania along Swatara and Tulpehocken creeks. In the 19th century, many industrial centers developed along the Susquehanna, using its water power to drive mills and coal machinery, to cool machines, and as a waterway for the transport of raw and manufactured goods. Based on colonial charters, both Pennsylvania and Connecticut claimed land in

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2684-534: The Susquehanna Gap through the Blue Mountain Ridge , just northwest of Harrisburg . Downtown Harrisburg developed on the east side of the river, which is nearly a mile wide here. Harrisburg is the largest city located on the lower river, which flows southeast across South Central Pennsylvania , forming the border between York and Lancaster counties, and receiving Swatara Creek from

2806-536: The Wyoming Valley along the Susquehanna. Connecticut founded Westmoreland County here and defended its claim in the Pennamite Wars . Under federal arbitration, eventually the state ceded this territory to Pennsylvania. In the 1790s English Lake Poets Robert Southey , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , and Robert Lovell formulated the " Pantisocracy Plan" to marry three sisters and move to the banks of

2928-514: The history of the United States . In the 18th century, William Penn , the founder of the Pennsylvania Colony , negotiated with the Lenape to allow white settlement in the area between the Delaware River and the Susquehanna, which was part of Lenape territory. In late colonial times, the river became an increasingly important transportation corridor, used to ship anthracite coal , discovered by Necho Allen , from its upper reaches in

3050-859: The railroad industry by the 1850s resulted in reducing the reliance on the river for transport. Two canal systems were constructed on the lower Susquehanna to bypass the rapids. The first was the Susquehanna Canal , also called the Conowingo Canal or the Port Deposit Canal, completed in 1802 by a Maryland company known as the Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal. The second was the much longer and more successful Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal . The canals required dams to provide canal water and navigation pools. As

3172-717: The "Battle of the Capes", Cape Charles and Cape Henry ) in 1781, during which the French fleet defeated the Royal Navy in the decisive naval battle of the American Revolutionary War . The French victory enabled General George Washington and his French allies under the Comte de Rochambeau to march down from New York and bottle up a British army under Lord Cornwallis from the North and South Carolinas at

3294-522: The 35 million years following the impact. The impact has been identified as the source of the North American tektite field , namely the Georgiaite and Bediasite fields. Until 1983 there was no evidence of a large impact crater buried beneath the lower part of the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding peninsulas . The first hint was an 8-inch-thick (20 cm) layer of ejecta found in

3416-515: The Atlantic Ocean near Norfolk, Virginia , and the capes of Charles and Henry , there is a distinct semi-diurnal tide throughout the lunar month, with small amplitude modulations during spring (new/full moon) vs. neap (one/three quarter moon) tidal periods. The main forcing of the CBBT tides are typical, semi-diurnal ocean tides that the East Coast of the United States experiences. Baltimore, in

3538-830: The British landed on the west side of the Patuxent at Benedict, Maryland , the Chesapeake Flotilla was scuttled, and the British trekked overland to rout the U.S. Army at Bladensburg and burn the U.S. Capitol in August 1814. A few days later in a "pincer attack", they also sailed up the Potomac River to attack Fort Washington below the National Capital and raided the nearby port town of Alexandria, Virginia . There were so-called " Oyster Wars " in

3660-437: The CBBT site) this can be seen as a lowest intertidal range. Two interesting points that arise from comparing these two sites at opposite ends of the bay are their tidal characteristics - semi-diurnal tide for CBBT and mixed tide for Baltimore (due to resonance in the bay) - and the differences in amplitude (due to dissipation in the bay). The bay is well-known for its seafood, especially blue crabs , clams , and oysters . In

3782-461: The Chesapeake Bay include shad , cobia , croaker , and redfish , winter flounder , and summer flounder . Recently, non-native blue catfish have proliferated in tributaries like the James River and may be moving to other areas of the bay. A commercial fishery exists for menhaden , too oily for human consumption but instead used for bait, fish oil, and livestock feed. The Chesapeake Bay

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3904-679: The Chesapeake Bay ;... I planned to spend my days boating, eating as many Chesapeake Bay blue crabs as possible and making a little study of Eastern Shore locals. For city folk like me, they're interesting, even exotic –the weather-beaten crabbers and oystermen called "watermen," gentlemen-farmers and sharecroppers, boat builders, antiques dealers – all of whom sound like Southerners with mouthfuls of marbles when they talk. — Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times , 2008 The Chesapeake Bay plays an extremely important role in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania's economies, in addition to

4026-434: The Chesapeake Bay. The impact crater created a long-lasting topographic depression which helped predetermine the course of local rivers and the eventual location of the Chesapeake Bay. Most important for present-day inhabitants of the area, the impact disrupted aquifers . The present freshwater aquifers lie above a deep salty brine , remnants of 100- to 145-million-year-old Early Cretaceous North Atlantic seawater, making

4148-571: The Governor William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge) between the state capital of Annapolis, Maryland and Matapeake on the Eastern Shore , crossing Kent Island , was constructed 1949–1952. A second, parallel, span was added in 1973. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel , connecting Virginia's Eastern Shore with its mainland (at the metropolitan areas of Virginia Beach , Norfolk , Portsmouth , and Chesapeake ),

4270-531: The Great Lakes. The English of Pennsylvania referred to the Eroni people of Conestoga as "Susquehannocks" or "Susquehannock Indians", a name derived from the Lenape term. In addition, John Smith of Jamestown , Virginia, labeled their settlement as "Sasquesahanough" on his 1612 map when he explored the upper Chesapeake Bay area. In Virginia and other southern colonies, Siouan -speaking tribes constituted

4392-818: The Iroquoian family, as "the stream that falls toward the south" or "long-crooked-river". The Lenape are an Algonquian-speaking Native American people who had communities ranging from coastal Connecticut through New York and Long Island, and further south into New Jersey and Delaware in the mid-Atlantic area. Their settlements in Pennsylvania included Con'esto'ga ("Roof-place" or "town", modern Washington Boro, Lancaster County ), also called Ka'ot'sch'ie'ra ("Place-crawfish", modern Chickisalunga, Lancaster County), or Gasch'guch'sa ("Great-fall-in-river", modern Conewago Falls , Lancaster County). They were called Minquas ("quite different"), or Sisa'we'hak'hanna'lenno'wak ("Oyster-river-people") by others. The Lenape also called

4514-542: The New York system. Today 200 bridges cross the Susquehanna. The Rockville Bridge , which crosses the river from Harrisburg to Marysville, Pennsylvania , is the longest stone masonry arch bridge in the world. It was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1902, replacing an earlier iron bridge. Two seasonal ferries operate across the Susquehanna. The Millersburg Ferry at Millersburg, Pennsylvania ,

4636-593: The North Branch flowing from the northwest at Northumberland. Downstream from the confluence of its branches in Northumberland , the river flows south past Selinsgrove , where it is joined by its Penns Creek tributary, and cuts through a water gap at the western end of Mahantongo Mountain. It receives the Juniata River from the northwest at Duncannon , then passes through its last water gap,

4758-641: The North Branch of the river. Smith and Cowdery said that they were visited on May 15, 1829, by the resurrected John the Baptist and given the Aaronic priesthood . Following his visit, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other in the river. Later that year, they said they were visited near the river by the apostles Peter , James and John . Both events took place in unspecified locations near the river's shore in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania . During

4880-640: The Susquehanna River to start a socialist experiment. They made the marriages but Southey moved to Lisbon, Portugal , to visit an uncle, and they abandoned the plan to move to the United States. In 1833 John B. Jervis began a canal system to extend the Chenango River and connect the waters of the Susquehanna from Chenango Point to the Erie Canal , which ran through the Mohawk Valley of New York , ultimately connecting with Lake Erie through

5002-525: The Susquehanna. The Susquehanna River is one of the oldest existing rivers in the world, being dated as 320–340 Myr , older than the mountain ridges through which it flows. These ridges resulted from the Alleghenian orogeny uplift events, when Africa (as part of Gondwana ) slammed into the Northern part of Euramerica . The Susquehanna basin reaches its ultimate outflow in the Chesapeake Bay . It

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5124-873: The Three Mile Island accident has not resulted in any harmful radiation effects. The areas in and along a 262-km length of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania were monitored for the presence of radioactive materials. This study began two months after the 1979 Three Mile Island (TMI) partial reactor meltdown; it spanned the next 25 years. Monitoring points included stations at the PPL Susquehanna and TMI nuclear power plants. Monthly gamma measurements documented concentrations of radionuclides from natural and anthropogenic sources. During this study, various series of gamma-emitting radionuclide concentration measurements were made in many general categories of animals, plants, and other inorganic matter, both within and near

5246-749: The United States gaining independence in the Revolutionary War, in 1790 Colonel Timothy Matlack , Samuel Maclay and John Adlum were commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to survey the headwaters of the Susquehanna river. They were to explore a route for a passage to connect the West Branch with the waters of the Allegheny River , which flowed to Pittsburgh and

5368-493: The West Branch at Northumberland. The origin of the official West Branch is near Elmora, Pennsylvania , in northern Cambria County near the contemporary junction of Mitchel Road and US Route 219 (locally Plank Road). It travels northeasterly through the towns of Northern Cambria , Cherry Tree , Burnside , Mahaffey and Curwensville (where the river is dammed to form a lake), into and through Clearfield , where it receives Clearfield Creek . The West Branch turns to

5490-471: The Wood Canal. In October 1836, water from the Susquehanna was connected to the Erie Canal at Utica, New York . Water travel was the main form of transportation during that era. The Erie Canal dramatically expanded trade between communities around the Great Lakes and markets in New York and Pennsylvania. With the expansion of construction of railroad lines, canal-transport became unprofitable, as it could not compete in speed or flexibility. Boats had to climb

5612-425: The amount of nitrogen compounds entering the bay. The bay is famous for its rockfish, a regional name for striped bass . Once on the verge of extinction, rockfish have made a significant comeback because of legislative action that put a moratorium on rockfishing, which allowed the species to re-populate. Rockfish can now be fished in strictly controlled and limited quantities. Other popular recreational fisheries in

5734-434: The area Sisa'we'hak'hanna'unk ("Oyster-river-place"). Peoples of the mid-Atlantic Coast included coastal peoples who spoke Algonquian languages , such as the Lenape (whose bands spoke three dialects of Lenape), and Iroquoian languages -speaking peoples of the interior, such as the Eroni and the Five Nations of the Iroquois League , or Haudenosaunee , based largely in present-day New York and upper Pennsylvania around

5856-462: The area now known as South Hampton Roads in the U.S. state of Virginia. They occupied an area that is now the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach areas. In 2005, Algonquian linguist Blair Rudes "helped to dispel one of the area's most widely held beliefs: that 'Chesapeake' means something like 'great shellfish bay'. It does not, Rudes said. The name might have actually meant something like 'great water', or it might have just referred to

5978-457: The assertion that it was as far north as the Chesapeake; most place it in present-day Georgia 's Sapelo Island . In 1573, Pedro Menéndez de Márquez , the governor of Spanish Florida, conducted further exploration of the Chesapeake. In 1570, Spanish Jesuits established the short-lived Ajacan Mission on one of the Chesapeake tributaries in present-day Virginia. The arrival of English colonists under Sir Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert in

6100-439: The bay and its tributaries, which contain sea grasses that are part of the manatee's diet. Loggerhead turtles are known to visit the bay. The Chesapeake Bay is also home to a diverse flora, both land and aquatic. Common submerged aquatic vegetation includes eelgrass and widgeon grass . A report in 2011 suggested that information on underwater grasses would be released, because "submerged grasses provide food and habitat for

6222-497: The bay at some point during the year or live there year-round. There are over 300 species of fish and numerous shellfish and crab species. Some of these include the Atlantic menhaden , striped bass , American eel , eastern oyster , Atlantic horseshoe crab , and the blue crab . Birds include ospreys , great blue herons , bald eagles , and peregrine falcons , the last two of which were threatened by DDT ; their numbers plummeted but have risen in recent years. The piping plover

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6344-437: The bay between 1607 and 1609, resulting in the publication in 1612 back in the British Isles of "A Map of Virginia" . Smith wrote in his journal: "Heaven and earth have never agreed better to frame a place for man's habitation." The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail , the first designated "all-water" National Historic Trail in the US, was established in 2006 by the National Park Service . The trail follows

6466-431: The bay has become "emptier", with fewer crabs, oysters and watermen (fishermen) since the mid-20th century. Nutrient pollution and urban runoff have been identified as major components of impaired water quality in the bay stressing ecosystems and compounding the decline of shellfish due to overharvesting . Restoration efforts that began in the 1990s have continued into the 21st century and show potential for growth of

6588-404: The bay include the smooth dogfish , spiny dogfish , cownose ray , and bonnethead . Bottlenose dolphins are known to live seasonally/yearly in the bay. There have been unconfirmed sightings of humpback whales in recent years. Endangered North Atlantic right whale and fin , and minke and sei whales have also been sighted within and in the vicinity of the bay. A male manatee visited

6710-449: The bay several times between 1994 and 2011, even though the area is north of the species' normal range. The manatee, recognizable due to distinct markings on its body, was nicknamed "Chessie" after a legendary sea monster that was allegedly sighted in the bay during the 20th century. The same manatee has been spotted as far north as Rhode Island , and was the first manatee known to travel so far north. Other manatees are occasionally seen in

6832-422: The bay to cool its reactor. The Chesapeake Bay forms a link in the Intracoastal Waterway , of the bays, sounds and inlets between the off-shore barrier islands and the coastal mainland along the Atlantic coast connecting the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (linking the bay to the north and the Delaware River ) with the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal (linking the bay, to the south, via the Elizabeth River , by

6954-524: The bay's beauty: The water is glassy, smooth and gorgeous, his wake white against the deep blue. That's the problem with the Chesapeake. It's so damned beautiful. One account suggested how the Chesapeake attracts people: You see them everywhere on Maryland's Eastern Shore, the weekend sailors. They are unmistakable with their deep tans, their baggy shorts, their frayed polo shirts, their Top-Siders worn without socks. Some may not even own their own boats, much less win regattas, but they are inexorably drawn to

7076-417: The bay's dead zones were estimated to kill 75,000 tons of bottom-dwelling clams and worms each year, weakening the base of the estuary's food chain and robbing the blue crab in particular of a primary food source. Crabs are sometimes observed to amass on shore to escape pockets of oxygen-poor water, a behavior known as a "crab jubilee". Hypoxia results in part from large algal blooms , which are nourished by

7198-405: The bay, especially the Calvert County, Maryland , coastline, are lined by cliffs composed of deposits from receding waters millions of years ago. These cliffs, generally known as Calvert Cliffs , are famous for their fossils , especially fossilized shark teeth, which are commonly found washed up on the beaches next to the cliffs. Scientists' Cliffs is a beach community in Calvert County named for

7320-489: The bay. It is presumed that the Chesapeake Bay was once inhabited by Paleoindians 11,000 years ago. For thousands of years, Native American societies lived in villages of wooden longhouses close to water bodies where they fished and farmed the land. Agricultural products included beans, corn, tobacco, and squash. Villages often lasted between 10 and 20 years before being abandoned due to local resources such as firewood running out or soil depleting. To produce enough food, labor

7442-404: The bay. The salinity ranges from 1.87% to 3.6%. (3.6% is as salty as the ocean.) The climate of the area surrounding the bay is primarily humid subtropical , with hot, very humid summers and cold to mild winters. Only the area around the mouth of the Susquehanna River is continental in nature, and the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the Susquehanna flats often freeze in winter. It is rare for

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7564-485: The bay. Water that was once clear for meters is now so turbid that a wader may lose sight of his feet while his knees are still dry. Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( / ˌ s ʌ s k w ə ˈ h æ n ə / SUSS -kwə- HAN -ə ; Lenape : Siskëwahane ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland). At 444 miles (715 km) long, it

7686-403: The brief decades before the Pennsylvania Canal System was eclipsed by the coming of age of steam -powered railways . While the railroad industry has been less prevalent since the closures and mergers of the 1950s–1960s, a wide-ranging rail transportation infrastructure still operates along the river's shores. Also called the Main Branch Susquehanna , the longer branch of the river rises at

7808-423: The cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth to the Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound in North Carolina and further to the Sea Islands of Georgia). A busy shipping channel (dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since the 1850s) runs the length of the bay, is an important transit route for large vessels entering or leaving the Port of Baltimore , and further north through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal to

7930-427: The course of each river. The bay's geology, its present form, and its very location were created by a bolide impact event at the end of the Eocene (about 35.5 million years ago), forming the Chesapeake Bay impact crater and much later the Susquehanna River valley. The bay was formed starting about 10,000 years ago when rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age flooded the Susquehanna River valley. Parts of

8052-569: The depth of the bay is 21 feet (6.4 m), including tributaries; over 24 percent of the bay is less than 6 ft (2 m) deep. Because the bay is an estuary, it has fresh water, salt water and brackish water. Brackish water has three salinity zones: oligohaline, mesohaline, and polyhaline . The freshwater zone runs from the mouth of the Susquehanna River to north Baltimore . The oligohaline zone has very little salt. Salinity varies from 0.5  ppt (parts per thousand) to 10 ppt, and freshwater species can survive there. The north end of

8174-402: The desire to create a retreat for scientists when the community was founded in 1935. Much of the bay is shallow. At the point where the Susquehanna River flows into the bay, the average depth is 30 feet (9 m), although this soon diminishes to an average of 10 feet (3 m) southeast of the city of Havre de Grace, Maryland , to about 35 feet (11 m) just north of Annapolis. On average,

8296-436: The development of the skipjack (such as the Helen Virginia ), the state boat of Maryland, which is the only remaining working boat type in the United States still under sail power. Other characteristic bay-area workboats include sail-powered boats such as the log canoe , the pungy , the bugeye , and the motorized Chesapeake Bay deadrise , the state boat of Virginia. In addition to harvesting wild oysters, oyster farming

8418-769: The ecosystem. The nature-based recreation of wildlife, boating, and ecotourism are dependent on enforcement of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which regulates pollutant discharges and supports related pollution control programs. In 2006, "roughly eight million wildlife watchers spent $ 636 million, $ 960 million, and $ 1.4 billion in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania" according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation . In colonial times, simple cooking techniques were used to create one pot meals like ham and potato casserole , clam chowder, or stews with common ingredients like oysters, chicken or venison. When John Smith landed in Chesapeake in 1608, he wrote: "The fish were so thick, we attempted to catch them with frying pans". Common regional ingredients in

8540-563: The entirety of the bay in about 3.3 days; by 1988 this time had increased to 325 days. The harvest's gross value decreased 88% from 1982 to 2007. One report suggested the bay had fewer oysters in 2008 than 25 years earlier. The primary problem is overharvesting . Lax government regulations allow anyone with a license to remove oysters from state-owned beds, and although limits are set, they are not strongly enforced. The overharvesting of oysters has made it difficult for them to reproduce, which requires close proximity to one another. A second cause for

8662-547: The evacuation of thousands of residents. In September 2011 the Susquehanna River and its communities were hit by Tropical Storm Lee , which caused the worst flooding since Agnes in 1972. The Susquehanna River is important in the transportation history of the United States . Before the Port Deposit Bridge opened in 1818, the river formed a barrier between the northern and southern states, as it could be crossed only by ferry . The earliest dams were constructed to support ferry operations in low water. The presence of many rapids in

8784-399: The excessive pollution it receives. Most of the pollution in the river is caused by excess animal manure from farming , agricultural runoff , urban and suburban stormwater runoff , and raw or inadequately treated sewage . In 2003 the river contributed 50% of the freshwater, 44% of the nitrogen , 21% of the phosphorus , and 21% of the sediment flowing into the Chesapeake Bay . It

8906-552: The geometry of the bay permits for a resonant period of 1.46 days. A good example of how the different Chesapeake Bay sites experience different tides can be seen in the tidal predictions published by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (see figure at right). At the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel (CBBT) site, which lies at the southernmost point of the bay where it meets

9028-445: The habitat for much of the bay's animal life. Beds of eelgrass , the dominant variety in the southern Chesapeake Bay, have shrunk by more than half there since the early 1970s. Overharvesting, pollution, sedimentation and disease have turned much of the bay's bottom into a muddy wasteland. The principal sources of nutrient pollution in the bay are surface runoff from farms, as well as runoff from urban and suburban areas. About half of

9150-433: The hardest-hit communities and the capital Harrisburg was flooded. The Chesapeake Bay received so much fresh water that it altered the ecosystem, killing much of the marine life that depended on saltwater. The Mid-Atlantic Flood of June 2006 , caused by a stalled jet stream-driven storm system, affected portions of the river system. The worst affected area was Binghamton, New York , where record-setting flood levels forced

9272-458: The help of aquarium owners, who often dump the contents of their aquariums into nearby lakes and streams. It is highly invasive and has the potential to flourish in the low-salinity tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Dense stands of Brazilian waterweed can restrict water movement, trap sediment and affect water quality. Various local K-12 schools in the Maryland and Virginia region often have programs that cultivate native bay grasses and plant them in

9394-481: The immediate aftermath: "Within minutes, millions of tons of water, sediment, and shattered rock were cast high into the atmosphere for hundreds of miles along the East Coast." An enormous megatsunami engulfed the land and possibly even reached the Blue Ridge Mountains . The sedimentary walls of the crater progressively slumped in, widened the crater, and formed a layer of huge blocks on the floor of

9516-587: The industrial age progressed, bridges replaced ferries , and railroads replaced canals. The railroads were often constructed on top of the canal right-of-way along the river. Many canal remnants can be seen; for example, in Havre de Grace, Maryland , along US Route 15 in Pennsylvania, and in upstate New York at various locations. These latter remnants are parts of the upstream divisions of the Pennsylvania Canal , of privately funded canals, and of canals in

9638-514: The introduction to his historical novel The Pioneers (1823). At Athens, Pennsylvania , then known as Tioga or "Tioga Point", Clinton met with General John Sullivan and his forces, who had marched from Easton, Pennsylvania . Together on August 29, they defeated the Tories and warriors of allied Iroquois bands at the Battle of Newtown (near present-day Elmira, New York ). This was part of what

9760-408: The late Eocene epoch. It is one of the best-preserved "wet-target" impact craters in the world. Continued slumping of sediments over the rubble of the crater has helped shape the Chesapeake Bay. During the warm late Eocene , sea levels were high, and the tidewater region of Virginia lay in the coastal shallows. The shore of eastern North America, about where Richmond, Virginia is today,

9882-583: The late 16th century to found a colony, later settled at Roanoke Island (off the present-day coast of North Carolina ) for the Virginia Company , marked the first time that the English approached the gates to the Chesapeake Bay between the capes of Cape Charles and Cape Henry . Three decades later, in 1607, Europeans again entered the bay. Captain John Smith of England explored and mapped

10004-649: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. Until the mid-20th century, oyster harvesting rivaled the crab industry among Chesapeake watermen, a dwindling breed whose skipjacks and other workboats were supplanted by recreational craft in the latter part of the century. In the 1960s, the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant on the historic Calvert Cliffs in Calvert County on the Western Shore of Maryland began using water from

10126-538: The leadership of a central chief. In 1524, Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano , (1485–1528), in service of the French crown , (famous for sailing through and thereafter naming the entrance to New York Bay as the " Verrazzano Narrows ", including now in the 20th century, a suspension bridge also named for him ) sailed past the Chesapeake, but did not enter the bay. Spanish explorer Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón sent an expedition out from Hispaniola in 1525 that reached

10248-560: The line again through the twin towns of Waverly, New York , and Sayre, Pennsylvania , and their large right bank railyard, once briefly holding the largest structure in the United States devoted to the maintenance and construction of railroad locomotives. A couple of miles south, in Athens Township, Pennsylvania , it receives the Chemung from the northwest. It makes a right-angle curve between Sayre and Towanda to cut through

10370-449: The local cuisine of Chesapeake included terrapins , smoked hams, blue crab, shellfish, local fish, game meats and various species of waterfowl. Blue crab continues to be an especially popular regional specialty. In the 1970s, the Chesapeake Bay was found to contain one of the planet's first identified marine dead zones , where waters were so depleted of oxygen that they were unable to support life, resulting in massive fish kills . In 2010

10492-539: The main branch or headwaters, and the West Branch , which rises in western Pennsylvania and joins the main branch near Northumberland in central Pennsylvania. The river drains 27,500 square miles (71,000 km ), including nearly half of the land area of Pennsylvania. The drainage basin includes portions of the Allegheny Plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains , cutting through

10614-403: The main stem of the Susquehanna as impaired ." The Susquehanna River has attracted boaters who watch or fish for its migratory species. Many tourists and local residents use the Susquehanna in the summer for recreation purposes such as kayaking, canoeing, and motor-boating. Due to the high volume of smallmouth bass in the river, it is the host of numerous bass fishing tournaments each year and

10736-601: The marine ecosystem. The word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word referring to a village 'at a big river'. It is the seventh-oldest surviving English placename in the United States, first applied as Chesepiook by explorers heading north from the Roanoke Colony into a Chesapeake tributary in 1585 or 1586. The name may also refer to the Chesapeake people or the Chesepian, a Native American tribe who inhabited

10858-471: The middle of the 20th century, the bay supported 9,000 full-time watermen, according to one account. Today, the body of water is less productive than it used to be because of runoff from urban areas (mostly on the Western Shore) and farms (especially on the Eastern Shore and in the Susquehanna River watershed), over-harvesting, and invasion of foreign species . The plentiful oyster harvests led to

10980-463: The mountains to the markets downriver. In 1779 during the American Revolutionary War , General James Clinton led an expedition down the Susquehanna from its headwaters. His party had made the upper portion navigable by damming the river's source at Otsego Lake , allowing the lake's level to rise, and then destroying the dam and flooding the river in order for his flotilla to travel for miles downstream. James Fenimore Cooper described this event in

11102-576: The mouths of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays . It may have been the first European expedition to explore parts of the Chesapeake Bay, which the Spaniards called "Bahía de Santa María" ("Bay of St. Mary") or "Bahía de Madre de Dios."("Bay of the Mother of God") De Ayllón established a short-lived Spanish mission settlement, San Miguel de Gualdape , in 1526 along the Atlantic coast . Many scholars doubt

11224-410: The native oyster population. The health of the Chesapeake Bay improved in 2015, marking three years of gains over a four-year period. Slight improvements in water quality were observed in 2021, compared to indicators measured in 2020. The bay is experiencing other environmental concerns, including climate change which is causing sea level rise that erodes coastal areas and infrastructure and changes to

11346-590: The nature of the topography (both horizontal and vertical shape), wind-driven circulation, and how the bay interacts with oceanic tides. Research into the peculiar behavior of tides both at the northern and southern extents of the bay began in the late 1970s. One study noted sea level fluctuations at periods of 5 days, driven by sea level changes at the bay's mouth on the Atlantic coast and local lateral winds, and 2.5 days, caused by resonant oscillations driven by local longitudinal winds, while another study later found that

11468-406: The northeast. It crosses into northern Maryland approximately 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Baltimore and is joined by Octoraro Creek from the northeast and Deer Creek from the northwest. The river enters the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace . Concord Point Light was built here in 1827 to accommodate the increasing navigational traffic. "Susquehanna" may come from

11590-407: The northern portion of the bay, experiences a noticeable modulation to form its mixed tidal nature during spring vs. neap tides. Spring tides, when the sun-earth-moon system forms a line, cause the largest tidal amplitudes during lunar monthly tidal variations. In contrast, neap tides, when the sun-earth-moon system forms a right angle, are muted, and in a semi-diurnal tidal system (such as that seen at

11712-409: The northernmost point on the bay. North of Baltimore , the western shore borders the hilly Piedmont region of Maryland; south of the city the bay lies within the state's low-lying coastal plain , with sedimentary cliffs to the west, and flat islands, winding creeks and marshes to the east. The large rivers entering the bay from the west have broad mouths and are extensions of the main ria for miles up

11834-532: The nutrient pollutant loads in the bay are generated by manure and poultry litter. Extensive use of lawn fertilizers and air pollution from motor vehicles and power plants are also significant nutrient sources. One particularly harmful source of toxicity is Pfiesteria piscicida , which can affect both fish and humans. Pfiesteria caused a small regional panic in the late 1990s when a series of large blooms started killing large numbers of fish while giving swimmers mysterious rashes; nutrient runoff from chicken farms

11956-411: The nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen . The algae prevents sunlight from reaching the bottom of the bay while alive and deoxygenates the bay's water when it dies and rots. Soil erosion and runoff of sediment into the bay, exacerbated by devegetation, construction and the prevalence of pavement in urban and suburban areas, also block vital sunlight. The resulting loss of aquatic vegetation has depleted

12078-676: The oligohaline zone is north Baltimore and the south end is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The mesohaline zone has a medium amount of salt and runs from the Bay Bridge to the mouth of the Rappahannock River . Salinity there ranges from 1.07% to 1.8%. The polyhaline zone is the saltiest zone, and some of the water can be as salty as sea water. It runs from the mouth of the Rappahannock River to the mouth of

12200-590: The outlet of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York . From there, the north branch of the river runs west-southwest through rural farmland and dairy country, receiving the Unadilla River at Sidney . It dips south into Pennsylvania briefly to turn sharply 90 degrees west at Susquehanna and again 90 degrees north at Great Bend hooking back into New York . It receives the Chenango in downtown Binghamton . After meandering westwards, it turns south crossing

12322-401: The oyster depletion is that the drastic increase in human population caused a sharp increase in pollution flowing into the bay. The bay's oyster industry has also suffered from two diseases: MSX and Dermo . The depletion of oysters has had a particularly harmful effect on the quality of the bay. Oysters serve as natural water filters, and their decline has further reduced the water quality of

12444-517: The ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia on the Delaware River . During the later half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the bay was plied by passenger steamships and packet boat lines connecting the various cities on it, notably the Baltimore Steam Packet Company ("Old Bay Line"). In the later 20th century, a series of road crossings were built. One, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (also known as

12566-566: The powerful Five Nations of the Iroquois League based in present-day New York, who wanted to control the fur trade with Europeans. The Susquehannock assimilated with the Iroquois. In the aftermath, the Iroquois resettled some of the semi-tributary Lenape in this area, as it was near the western boundary of the Lenape's former territory, known as Lenapehoking . The Susquehanna River has continued to play an important role throughout

12688-407: The ring-like trough. The slump blocks were then covered with the rubble or breccia . The entire bolide event, from initial impact to the termination of breccia deposition, lasted only a few hours or days. In the perspective of geological time, the 1.2  km (0.75  mi ) breccia was an instantaneous deposit. The crater was then buried by additional sedimentary beds that have accumulated during

12810-538: The river at several locations in Cumberland and York counties. In 1972 the remnants of Hurricane Agnes stalled over the New York-Pennsylvania border, dropping as much as 20 inches (510 mm) of rain on the hilly lands. Much of that precipitation was received into the Susquehanna from its western tributaries, and the valley suffered disastrous flooding. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania , was among

12932-572: The river meant that while commercial traffic could navigate down the river in the high waters of the spring thaws, nothing could move up. The Susquehanna was improved by navigations throughout the 1820s and 1830s as the Pennsylvania Canal . Together with facilities of the Allegheny Portage Railroad , loaded barges were transferred from the canal and hoisted across the mountain ridge into the Pittsburgh area with access to

13054-586: The river, in the Southern Tier of New York. The Appalachian Trail passes through Duncannon, Pennsylvania , and crosses the Susquehanna on the Clarks Ferry Bridge . Chesapeake Bay impact crater The Chesapeake Bay impact crater is a buried impact crater , located beneath the mouth of Chesapeake Bay , United States. It was formed by a bolide that struck the eastern shore of North America about 35.5 ± 0.3 million years ago, in

13176-418: The river. Sampling began in 1979 before the first start-up of the PPL Susquehanna power plant. Although all species were not continuously monitored for the entire period, an extensive database was compiled. In May 1986, ongoing measurements from several monitoring stations along the river near Three Mile Island, Peach Bottom and Calvert Cliffs detected iodine-131 beta particles attributable to fallout from

13298-477: The route of Smith's historic 17th-century voyage. Because of economic hardships and civil strife in the "Mother Land", there was a mass migration of southern English Cavaliers and their servants to the Chesapeake Bay region between 1640 and 1675, to both of the new colonies of the Province of Virginia and the Province of Maryland . The Chesapeake Bay was the site of the Battle of the Chesapeake (also known as

13420-500: The runoff of residential, farm and industrial waste throughout the watershed. A 2010 report criticized Amish farmers in Pennsylvania for raising cows with inadequate controls on the manure that they generate. Farms in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania generate large quantities of manure that washes into tributaries of the bay. The pollution entering the bay has multiple components that contribute to algal blooms, principally

13542-622: The siege of Battle of Yorktown in Yorktown, Virginia . Their marching route from Newport, Rhode Island through Connecticut, New York State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware to the "Head of Elk" by the Susquehanna River along the shores and also partially sailing down the bay to Virginia . It is also the subject of a designated National Historic Trail as the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route . The bay would again see conflict during War of 1812 . During

13664-478: The size of Rhode Island , and nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon . However, numerical modeling techniques by Collins et al. indicate that the post-impact diameter was likely to have been around 40  km (25  mi ), rather than the observed 85  km (53  mi ). The surrounding region suffered massive devastation. USGS scientist David Powars , one of the impact crater's discoverers, described

13786-629: The southeast and passes Karthaus (at Mosquito Creek), Keating (at Sinnemahoning Creek), Renovo and Lock Haven , where it receives Bald Eagle Creek . At Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, Pine Creek, the largest tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River, is received. Pine Creek has the largest watershed of all the West Branch’s tributaries. It passes Williamsport , where both Lycoming Creek and Loyalsock Creek empty into it, then turns south, passing Lewisburg , before joining

13908-466: The surface of the bay to freeze in winter, something that happened most recently in the winter of 1976–77. The Chesapeake Bay is the end point of over 150 rivers and streams. The largest rivers flowing directly into the bay, in order of discharge, are: For more information on Chesapeake Bay rivers, see the List of Chesapeake Bay rivers . The Chesapeake Bay is home to numerous fauna that either migrate to

14030-448: The year of 1813, from their base on Tangier Island , British naval forces under the command of Admiral George Cockburn raided several towns on the shores of the Chesapeake, treating the bay as if it were a "British Lake". The Chesapeake Bay Flotilla , a fleet of shallow-draft armed barges under the command of U.S. Navy Commodore Joshua Barney , was assembled to stall British shore raids and attacks. After months of harassment by Barney,

14152-404: Was blamed for the growth. While the bay's salinity is ideal for oysters and the oyster fishery was at one time the bay's most commercially viable, the population has in the last fifty years been devastated. Maryland once had roughly 200,000 acres (810 km) of oyster reefs. In 2008 there were about 36,000 acres (150 km). It has been estimated that in pre-colonial times, oysters could filter

14274-483: Was completely vaporized, with the basement rock being fractured to depths of 8  km (5  mi ), and a peak ring being raised around it. The deep crater, 38  km (24  mi ) across, is surrounded by a flat-floored terrace-like ring trough with an outer edge of collapsed blocks forming ring faults. The entire circular crater is about 85  km (53  mi ) in diameter and 1.3  km (1,300  m ; 0.81  mi ; 4,300  ft ) deep, an area twice

14396-425: Was covered with thick tropical rainforest , and the waters of the gently sloping continental shelf were rich with marine life that was depositing dense layers of lime from their microscopic shells . The bolide made impact at a speed of approximately 17.8 kilometers per second (11.1 miles per second), punching a deep hole through the sediments and into the granite continental basement rock . The bolide itself

14518-488: Was designated as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1997. The designation provides for technical assistance from federal agencies to state and local governments working in the Susquehanna watershed. Another environmental concern is radioactivity released during the 1979 Three Mile Island accident . However, extensive radionuclide studies over a 25-year period from 1979 through 2003, confirm that

14640-576: Was divided with men hunting while the women supervised the village's farming. All village members took part in the harvesting of fish and shellfish from the local bodies of water. As time went on, communities around the Chesapeake Bay formed confederations such as the Powhatan , the Piscataway , and the Nanticoke . Each of these confederations consisted of a collection of smaller tribes falling under

14762-507: Was known as the "Sullivan-Clinton Campaign" or the " Sullivan Expedition ". They swept through western New York, dominated by the Seneca people , destroying more than 40 Seneca villages, as well as the stores of crops the people had set aside for winter. Many of the Iroquois left New York and went to Canada as refugees; casualties from exposure and starvation were high that winter. Following

14884-547: Was well established in the flat tidelands of eastern North America during the Mesozoic era about 252 to 66 million years ago. This is the same period when the Hudson , Delaware and Potomac rivers were established. Both branches and the lower Susquehanna were part of important regional transportation corridors. The river was extensively used for muscle-powered ferries , boats , and canal boat shipping of bulk goods in

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