Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is the nation's 16th largest river and a major river located in Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At 444 miles long, it 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 river drains 27,500 square miles, 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 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 (the largest estuary in the United States) at Perryville and Havre de Grace, Maryland, providing half of the Bay's freshwater inflow, 44% of the nitrogen, 21% of the phosphorus, and 21% of the sediment flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. The bay lies in the flooded valley, or ria, of the Susquehanna.
It is the most northern river that flows directly into the bay. Other large rivers that flow into the bay from north to south are the Patapsco River; Chester River; Choptank River; Patuxent River; Nanticoke River; Potomac River; Pocomoke River; Rappahannock River; York River; James River. Another river flowing into Chesapeake Bay is the Wicomico River, not to be confused with the tributary of the Potomac River.
the river provides abundant resources and connects communities, flowing through ancient rock along the way. The Susquehanna is so old that the mountains and valleys formed around it, rather than the river shaping the valleys. The river has witnessed mountain building and erosion as the land was shaped and then reshaped around it. In this area there are sections where there are drops in the water level. It’s not surprising to find changes in rocks in the riverbed wherever you have a waterfall or otherwise rapid movement in the water. The rocks at the foot of the falls range in size and display various smooth, curvaceous shapes.
The Susquehanna River is one of the oldest existing rivers in the world, being dated as 320–340 Mya, 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 was well established in the flat tidelands of eastern North America during the Mesozoic era millions of years ago. This is the same period when the Hudson, Delaware and Potomac rivers were established.
Over time there has been flooding and erosion that has raised levels of concerns. An overabundance of water in the past has led to too much fresh water being released into the bay causing an imbalance and killing much of the marine land depending on saltwater. In certain areas rising water levels cause the disappearance of islands along its path continued erosion damage. The major pollutants of concern in the Susquehanna headwaters are sediment and nutrients. Sources include flooding and stream bank erosion, road ditch and road bank erosion, and agricultural runoff. The watershed issues of greatest importance are flooding and drought, stream bank erosion, gravel deposition and sediment and nutrient loading from stream banks, roadways, and agriculture.
QUESTIONS/TASKS:
1. Because the Chesapeake bay is an estuary, it has fresh water, salt water, and brackish water. What type of water inflow is provided by the Susquehanna River and how much of this type of water inflow is it responsible for?
2. Do you see any type or signs of erosion along the banks of the river at this location? If so, what is the immediate concern?
3. Can you see any bedrock at this location due to the erosion?
4. To prove that you were here, please post a picture of yourself or your GPS with the river in the background.