The Rhode River, Chesapeake Bay, an integrated catchment study

Abstract

The Rhode River is a tidal estuary on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay (Fig. 16.1) some 10 km south of Annapolis, Maryland. The surface waters of the estuary comprise some 485 ha and the total catchment is 3332 ha. The tidal range is low ( <1 m) and the estuary is shallow with no strongly developed deep channels and a maximum water depth of about 4 m at its mouth. The open water is bordered for the most part by gentle wooded slopes though there are extensive salt marshes along the southern shoreline and, more locally, actively eroding cliff sections exposed to wave action at the present day. In particular, the islands in the middle of the ‘River’ are scarred by conspicuous cliffs. Relief overall is low with no part of the catchment above 180 m. The underlying bedrock comprises a variety of sedimentary types. Very restricted exposure of Marlboro Clay are overlaid by the sandy, glauconitic, Eocene, Nanjemoy formation, the sandy and diatomaceous sediments of the Miocene Calvert formation and the alluvium of the Talbot formation. The Nanjemoy and Talbot formations are the only important lithologies in the lower parts of the catchment and around the water’s edge. Of the actively eroding cliffs, only one is in the Talbot alluvium, the rest are in Nanjemoy sands. Most of the higher ground in the catchment is developed on Calvert sediments or the locally overlying Sunderland terrace deposits. The well drained parts of the catchment are deeply weathered and soils are mostly eluviated sandy loams. More locally, gleyed soils occur in streamside locations, and the main drainage system is flanked in its lower reaches by an extensive swamp.

Let the downpour roil and toil! The worst it can do to me Is carry some garden soil A little nearer the sea.

Robert Frost

In time of cloudburst