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Photo by Peter Baye
More than 9 million people live in the immediate vicinity of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary. The Delta is located in the upper reaches of the Estuary where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers terminate as they reach sea level. This is a rather unexpected arrangement, as most people think of major river deltas as occurring in near-shore waters of the open ocean. But because of California’s unique topography, the tidal waters of the ocean penetrate far inland.
Downstream of the Delta is San Francisco Bay. But it is so much more than the vast, protected harbor that is recognized the world over. Taken together, the Bay and Delta comprise the largest estuary on the west coast of North America. Estuaries are dynamic coastal ecosystems formed where rivers from the interior meet the salt waters of the ocean in confined areas. The straits of the Golden Gate are the confining feature of the San Francisco Estuary. This restricting connection between the Pacific Ocean and interior California causes salt water and fresh river water to mix, creating water chemistry that is unique to estuaries. It is this meeting and mixing of fresh river water and salty ocean water that creates the highly productive estuary ecosystem.
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