Chesapeake Bay
The importance of taking care of Chesapeake Bay; its natural, historical, and cultural values; the way it can be used for the sake of the environment will be discussed in the following essay.
The first white man who visited the Chesapeake Bay was Captain John Smith, known for the legend of Pocahontas. According to legend, he decided to start here first European settlement, being affected by the beauty of local nature. And it goes without saying, we do understand him.In my opinion, Chesapeake Bay is one of the most naturally precious things not only for the USA but also for the whole world. During the Eocene, about 35 million years ago, the big meteorite fell into the bay, creating a crater of almost 85 km and a depth of 1,3 km.
The center of the crater was found under the water, 8 km to the west of Cape Charles, only in 1993 while oil drilling. I believe that this fact shows us, how many things are hidden under the water and how many things are still unknown and will be undiscovered by the people for a long period of time. The crater is composed of breccias, on which over time a layer of sediments with a thickness of 300 to 500 m was accumulating. The breccias are causing a violation of natural groundwater systems and lead to a high salt content in the groundwater that is more than a half times higher than a normal level. The residents of surrounding land have known the high salinity for already a long time. Groundwater is mostly unfit for use, but the cause was established only after the discovery of the crater. I suppose that this high salinity level can be used by the people in industrial scale. For example, it is widely-known that sodium, chloride (ordinary table salt), magnesium and some of its compounds, and bromine can be easily removed from the water with the high salinity level.
Usually, these products are obtained either by extraction from seawater or the processing algae, concentrated with calcium and potassium. It should be noted, however, that industrial extraction of these elements directly from seawater is still not discovered. Numerous attempts to extract more mineral compounds from seawater or river water for the industrial production were unsuccessful. I believe that this renewable resource (algae and salt) has only benefits as it can be harvested and made into jet fuel, biodiesel, and biobutanol.
If to speak about non-renewable resources, the fossil fuels can be derived from the organic matters that are located in Chesapeake Bay. It is an ideal energy resource, though fossil fuels are rather hard to get as they are normally retrieved through drilling. But it is worth doing it for the sheer quantity of energy they produce. So, in conclusion we can say that Chesapeake Bay is of vital importance for the humanity, as it is a great source for both: renewable and non-renewable resources.
References
F. Boesch, Donald, B. Brinsfield, Russell, E. Magnien, Robert. (2001). …
