Everything about Sacramento-san Joaquin River Delta totally explained
The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is an expansive inland
river delta and
estuary in northern
California in the
United States. It is formed at the western edge of the
Central Valley by the confluence of the
Sacramento and
San Joaquin rivers and lies just east of where the rivers enter
Suisun Bay (an upper arm of
San Francisco Bay). The city of
Stockton is located on the San Joaquin River on the eastern edge of the delta.
Description
The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is an example of an
inverted river delta, one of only a few worldwide. The fan-shaped area of the delta converges downstream, rather than diverging, as the two rivers are forced to exit the Central Valley through the
Coast Range via the narrow channel known as the
Carquinez Strait, which leads to the
San Francisco Bay and ultimately the
Pacific Ocean through the
Golden Gate.
The delta consists of myriad small natural and man-made channels (locally called
sloughs), creating a system of isolated lowland islands and
wetlands defined by dikes or
levees. The delta's so-called "islands" are not really
islands in the classic sense, but they're referred to as such because they're completely surrounded by water and are so isolated in many cases that they're accessible only by boat, ferry or aircraft.
An extensive system of earthen levees has allowed wide-spread farming throughout the delta. Its
peat soil makes it one of the most fertile
agricultural areas in California and arguably even the nation, contributing billions of dollars to the state's economy. Certain specialty crops, such as
asparagus, are grown in the delta in quantities unmatched anywhere else in the United States.
The delta and its "Thousand Miles of Waterways" are a recreation destination. The warm, breezy summers are popular among water skiers and boaters and even the chilly,
foggy winters draw fishermen and hunters.
Development of the Delta
The delta is an
estuary which acts as the funneling point for a
watershed covering thousands of square miles of California's interior. On its way to the
Pacific Ocean, runoff flows through the delta from several major mountain ranges, including virtually the entire western flank of the
Sierra Nevadas, the southern reaches of the
Cascades, and the eastern flanks of those parts of the
coast range that border the
central valley. For thousands of years, huge swaths of the delta flooded regularly with every spring melt, and the delta represented one of the largest
estuaries on North America's west coast.
Starting in the late 19th century,
Chinese workers were used to construct hundreds of miles of
levees throughout the delta's waterways in an effort to reclaim and preserve farmland and control flooding. These levees confine waterflow to the riverbeds.
Levee failures in the delta can result in the flooding of vast tracts of both agricultural land and developed cities. On
June 3,
2004, a 350 foot (110 m) section of a levee 10 mi (16 km) west of Stockton collapsed, flooding the Upper Jones Tract, a island.
(External Link
) Tens of thousands of people live near these levees (in many cases, right next to them), in scores of communities ranging from Tracy in the south to Stockton in the east, Sacramento in the north, and the San Francisco Bay Area in the west. In light of the 2005
Hurricane Katrina disaster affecting similarly low-lying river delta regions in
Louisiana and
Mississippi, there has been a strong outcry for the state of California and/or the federal government to thoroughly inspect and, if necessary, strengthen and repair the delta's levees.
Major Delta Tributaries
Further Information
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