The Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay (Student Name (Student Number (Instructors Name

5 August 2008

Most features that the eye can see and the nature of the environment surrounding took time to be the state that it is currently . Various physical , human and chemical activities contributed to shaping different physical features such as the mountains and deserts . An example is that the mountains are formed by continental drifty or volcanic activity while deserts are formed due to fluctuation of the globe resulting in different climates hence the deserts

The Chesapeake Bay has a long history

and runs up to 35 million years ago but the shape that it is , is recent . There are different features that contributed to its development , which includes erosion and glaciers melting

Chesapeake Bay History

The Chesapeake Bay has been there for a long time . However , many people tend to base its beginning history to the Jamestown - Virginia establishment in 1607 . Nevertheless , the history of the bay was there before the establishment of the town (Mathew 1997 , pp . 46 - 47

In around 35 million years ago , a rare bolide dropped into the area , at the lower tip of the Delmarva Peninsula in Virginia and resulted in curving out a 55 mile width basin . This bolide did not create the bay but contributed to it . Sea level of the area fluctuates over time and the area alternates between dry land and the shallow floor of the coastal seas

10 to 2 million years ago , there was series of ice ages that locked the ocean water in massive glaciers , which caused the mid-Atlantic coastline to extend eastwards more than 180 miles to its current location . During the warm periods , the glaciers melt and inundate the Costal Plain with gravel , sand , silt and clay . In this time also the glaciers that melted formed the carve channels through the Coastal Plain and resulted to the Chesapeake 's rivers . Due to erosion and climate conditions , it affected the nature of the bay resulting to the current nature (Mathew 1997 , pp 44 - 47

Geography of Chesapeake Bay

The Bay main stem stretches a distance of 189 miles , this is from the confluence with the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace , MD to the mouth that is near the Norfolk in VA . The narrowest point is near the Annapolis - Maryland and at this point , the Bay measures around four miles wide . When it nears the mouth of the Potomac River in Virginia the width of the Bay spans nearly 30 miles

The river valley of the Susquehanna River was flooded and drowned by melting glaciers that took place around 12 ,000 years ago . This resulted to the Chesapeake Bay to average only 21 feet in depth . However , the Bay majority depth is usually less than six feet . The deepest point is near the Kent Island Bloody Point Hole and at this point , the Bay measures 174 feet deep

There are many rivers that flow into the Bay , which supply more than the 90 of water , all of...