ABSTRACT
The Delaware Estuary is a large, heavily industrialized system that receives drainage from parts of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York (Figure 3.1). The 217-kmlong body of water is a coastal plain estuary — a drowned river valley of the Delaware River — that stretches from the mouth of Delaware Bay at a line drawn between Cape May Point, New Jersey, and Cape Henlopen, Delaware (38°50
′
″
N, 75°03
′
″
W; river kilometer 0) to the falls at Trenton, New Jersey (river kilometer 217). It represents one of the largest estuaries in the U.S., with its surface area of 1773 km
being exceeded only by that of the Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound.
