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The Geography of the Delaware River Basin

The Delaware River is an enormous river on the eastern seaboard of the US. It drains an area of over 13,500 square miles in four U.S. states: Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The river itself divides into two branches, Connecticut and the Delaware branches. Both branches of the river are connected through three major channels: Lake Champlain, the Hudson and Potomac rivers, and Lake Mahon, which is the confluence of the three branches. Through this network of waterways, several million people in the US and Canadian provinces get access to enjoy the water sports, such as kayaking, canoeing, rowing, and many more.

Delaware river

The size of the lake area is not the only thing that determines the Grand river’s volume and depth. Besides these important factors, the geographical configuration and topography also decide the extent and width of the waterway. Some of the US Eastern seaboards have smaller waterways than the western seaboard. The Eastern rivers have a greater surface area than the Western rivers.

Delaware and the Potomac Rivers connected via the New Jersey shore. Thereafter, the two branches of the river flow through New York, Maryland, and Virginia. In between the US Eastern Seaboard and the Canadian Prairies (including the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), the two rivers merge to form the Hudson Bay. This condition gives rise to the port complex in the Delaware River basin. This seaport complex links the Eastern Seaboard with the Canadian Prairies.

The most famous crossing of this old and famous river is the Wild man’s bridge on the New Jersey shore. This is a structure with two open-span Class II and Class III rapids. This structure was completed in 1930 and was the first one of its kind. Since then, many other similar structures have been built in North America.

The most important feature of Delaware and the Potomac River together is their shared concern for the environment. In fact, the two rivers are so interconnected that they share a body of water together and that too with wide ecological margins. The most famous crossing of these two rivers is that of the George Washington Bridge which takes over eight hundred kilometers in length. The span of the river thus covers the distance of sixteen thousand seven hundred miles.

There are other important features of the deluxe version of the Delaware River. The international waters of this section of the US are protected by the lock control system which means that no fishing or other invasive activities can be done within the national waters. Also, the fish population has become a critical element for the ecosystem. The locking mechanism ensures that the volume of the water is maintained where it belongs. In case there is excess, it is recovered by recharging from the Virginia shore.

As for the basin, the Delaware river basin was granted an exclusive ecological zone in 1970. This means that no mineral or oil drilling is allowed. This has led to a rise in the prices of the mineral products used here. The basin is also home to numerous species of flora and fauna. In fact, it is the home of a number of endangered or protected species of animals.

On a broader scale, the geography of the Atlantic section of the United States consists of two major ecosystems. They are the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the densely forested Southeast U.S. This two-way traffic will continue in the coming years as the soil and the flora of the Atlantic plain will continue to provide the foundation for a more stable and diverse regional landscape. It is also expected that the Delaware river basin will experience more development in the coming years. With this in mind, the navigation of the Atlantic plain is expected to improve in the coming years.