The Chesapeake Bay

Front 1

What is a Downed River Valley Estuary

Back 1

A downed river valley is narrow with steep sides and deep channels. The Chesapeake bay is one. Salinity usually declines upstream and sediment and particles are moved downstream

Front 2

What is a Fjord

Back 2

Fjord Estuary has a deep channel and have moderately high river input but little mixing.

Front 3

What is a Bar Built Estuary

Back 3

A bar built estuary is when a sandbar builds up on the coastline and partially blocks the ocean water from freshwater of the river. They are shallow and do not have a lot of tidal action.

Front 4

What is a Tectonic Estuary

Back 4

Tectonic are created when the sea fills in a hole made by the movement of tectonic plates

Front 5

What is a Salt Wedge

Back 5

The Salt wedge occurs when the mouth of a river flows directly into the water. A boundary is created that separates upper less salty layer from the bottom wedge shaped salty layer.

Front 6

What is a Partially Mixed Estuary

Back 6

A partially mixed estuary is created when the salt water is mixed upward and the fresh water is mixed downward.

Front 7

What is a Well Mixed Estuary

Back 7

A well mixed estuary is when the salinity of the water is the same at the top and bottom and only changes upon horizontal movement.

Front 8

What is a Halocline, Pycnocline and Thermocline

Back 8

A Halocline is the area of most rapid change in Salinity over depth.
A Pycnocline is area of rapid change in density over depth which is affected by temperature and salinity.
The Thermocline is the area of rapid change in temperature over depth.

Front 9

What type of circulation is the Chesapeake Bay

Back 9

The Chesapeake Bay is a Partially Mixed Estuary.

Front 10

What is the zone of maximum turbidity and where is it located in the Chesapeake Bay

Back 10

The zone of maximum turbidity is the area where there is the most nutrients and least amount of productivity. It is found in the channel of the bay

Front 11

What is the circulation like in the spring and the fall in the Chesapeake Bay

Back 11

In the spring and the fall, the bay is partially mixed. The strong Thermocline starts to disappear and better mixing can occur in the fall and starts to reappear in the spring.

Front 12

What is the circulation like in the winter and summer

Back 12

In the summer there is a strong Thermocline that prevents the top layer of freshwater from mixing with the deeper saltier water. As a result dead zones appear because there is not enough oxygen in the water. In the winter, there is no thermocline and the mixing is very good. There is a lot of oxygen in the water, which aids in the production of microphytobenthos

Front 13

Salinity contours on the western shore versus the east

Back 13

There is more freshwater to the west and more salt on the east. yay.

Front 14

How does light affect the bay and which organisms are directly and indirectly affected. (seagrasses, algae, benthic algae,)

Back 14

The more light there is, the more algae is created, which allows organisms to feed on them, but if there are too many, they begin to die and decompose, which takes up the necessary oxygen in the bay. The benthic algae need the sunlight to grow and they settle on the bottom of the bay and prevent erosion. Sea grasses need the light to go through photosynthesis which creates oxygen. If they die, it can lead to more erosion.

Front 15

What affects how much light gets through the atmosphere to the water surface? and the bottom of the bay?

Back 15

Clouds, algae, weather/climate, day and night, nutrients block the sunlight at the surface. Sediments and nutrients, and the same crap.

Front 16

What is the secchi depth and how does it differ from light intensity measurements

Back 16

The Secchi depth measures the water transparency in the water. It is lowered until the patter is no longer visible and a measurement is taken. Light intensity measurements are used to measure the wavelength of the light in water.

Front 17

Why was the Bernie Fowler Sneaker thing good for estimates of trend but not okay for scientific study.

Back 17

He moved sediments when he walked in and it depended on what the day was like when they walked in and whether or not there was a storm before hand.

Front 18

Why is the clarity of the water important to the bay

Back 18

The water clarity is important because if the water is turbid there is no light in the water and the everything will die. when there is no light no photosynthesis can occur and the plant life dies which cuts off the oxygen in the water

Front 19

What affects water clarity'

Back 19

sediments, nutrients, algae,

Front 20

What adds DO and what processes that take up DO

Back 20

The Wind adds to the oxygen as do the SAVs in the water and make. Animals, decomposing algae, the thermocline take up the oxygen, Nitrogen bonds with the oxygen.

Front 21

How does the bathymetry of the affect DO concentrations

Back 21

Because the channel is so deep, not a lot of oxygen cycles through the water which makes dead zones. This then makes it so that animals and plants cannot live.