EstuariesAn estuary is basically the place were the rivers ans streams meet with the ocean. In other words it is where the freshwater meats the salt water. They are places of transition from land to sea. These places are one of the most heavily populated places in the world. When the freshwater and salt water mix they provide high levels of nutrients in the water and also in the sediment that mix with one another. Which provides a very good place for animals to live. They are also really important since they provide great breeding grounds for many animals.
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Types of estuaries
There are four different kinds of estuaries, each created a different way: coastal plain estuaries, tectonic estuaries, bar-built estuaries, and fjord estuaries. Coastal plain estuaries are created when sea levels rise and fill in an existing river valley. The Chesapeake Bay, on the East Coast of the United States. The shifting together and rifting apart of the Earth's crust, creates tectonic estuaries. California's San Francisco Bay is a tectonic estuary. When a lagoon or bay is protected from the ocean by a sandbar or barrier island, it is called a bar-built estuary. Fjord estuaries are a type of estuary created by glaciers. Fjord estuaries occur when glaciers carve out a deep, steep valley.
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