estuary
Estuaries are coastal zones where rivers meet the sea. This topic is part of Coasts within Geography. This page currently draws on 23 supporting questions, with answers and bonus facts available below.
estuary trivia questions
An estuary is a place where freshwater from rivers mixes with what?
Answer: Seawater
Bonus fact: Estuaries are coastal zones where rivers meet the sea.
Water in an estuary is often described as what because it is a mixture of fresh and salt water?
Answer: Brackish
Bonus fact: Brackish water has more salt than freshwater but less than seawater.
Why are estuaries often highly productive ecosystems?
Answer: They receive abundant nutrients
Bonus fact: River inputs and tidal mixing bring nutrients that support rich food webs.
An estuary is where freshwater mixes with what?
Answer: Saltwater
Bonus fact: Estuaries occur where rivers meet the sea.
What makes estuaries especially rich in biological productivity?
Answer: They receive abundant nutrients
Bonus fact: Nutrient-rich waters support plankton, fish, birds, and shellfish.
What is the largest estuary in the United States?
Answer: Chesapeake Bay
Bonus fact: NOAA says the Chesapeake watershed covers about 64,000 square miles and parts of six states plus Washington, D.C.
What geologic process creates the steep-sided valleys that later become fjord estuaries?
Answer: Glacial erosion
Bonus fact: After glaciers retreat, seawater floods the deep glacial valleys.
What is an estuary?
Answer: A place where river freshwater meets and mixes with seawater
Bonus fact: Estuaries occur where rivers connect with coastal seas.
What type of estuary forms when rising sea level floods an existing river valley?
Answer: Drowned river valley estuary
Bonus fact: Many North American coastal-plain estuaries formed after the last ice age.
What is the usual term for water formed by mixing freshwater and seawater in an estuary?
Answer: Brackish water
Bonus fact: Salinity in estuaries can vary with tides, river flow, and location.
What type of estuary forms when crustal movement creates a depression that is flooded by the sea?
Answer: Tectonic estuary
Bonus fact: NOAA gives San Francisco Bay as a tectonic-estuary example.
Eelgrass grows mainly in what kind of water?
Answer: Shallow coastal water
Bonus fact: It forms underwater meadows in bays and estuaries.