Everything about Raritan Bay totally explained
Raritan Bay is a
bay between the
U.S. states of
New York and
New Jersey. It is located at the
confluence of the
Arthur Kill and the
Raritan River, which flows into the bay from the west. The bay is bounded on the north by
Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and
Staten Island in
New York, on the south by
Monmouth County, and on the east by the
Naval Weapons Station Earle pier.
The bay and river are named after the
Raritans, a tribe of the
Lenape, who lived in the immediate area around the bay during the 17th century at the time of the arrival of the
Dutch colonists.
Throughout history, the bay has been a prime fishing ground, especially for commercial
oyster fishing, until the 20th century. The bay is crossed by a dredged channel allowing commercial ships to enter the Arthur Kill.
Geologic history of Raritan Bay
The
Arthur Kill is an abandoned river channel carved by an ancestral phase of the
Hudson River resulting from the blockage of the main channel of the Hudson at
The Narrows by moraine or ice. The size of the Arthur Kill channel is large, suggesting that it was, for a time, the primary drainage from the region. However, it wasn't a primary drainage for long because the river didn't have enough time to carve a broad flood plain. This channel probably developed during Stage 3 (a mid-Wisconsin interglacial stage). By comparison, the valley of the
Raritan River to the south is much broader. This is an indication that the Raritan was perhaps the major drainage channel along the ice front throughout the
Wisconsin glaciation (Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4). Prior to that time the region drained southward across the saddle between the Atlantic Highlands and the Newark Basin into the
Delaware River Valley. This saddle area is a very broad flood plain that preserves river terrace gravels (Pensauken Formation) from the Sangemon Interglacial State (Stage 5), as well as older Pleistocene
fluvial deposits (The Bridgetown Formation). During the lowstand in sea level caused by the Wisconsin glacier, the Raritan River carved back into its headlands and captured the major drainages from the Newark Basin.
Marine life
Some of Raritan Bay's fish species include
striped bass,
fluke,
flounder,
bluefish,
tautog and
weakfish. The crustacean species represented include the
blue claw crab,
fiddler crab,
green crab and
spider crab.
Clams and
mussels also live in Raritan Bay. Many recreational outdoor enthusiasts fish and crab in the bay. It is a popular destination due to its proximity to the densely populated areas of
Central Jersey and
New York City.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Raritan Bay'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://raritan_bay.totallyexplained.com">Raritan Bay Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
