The Bay of St. Louis (St. Louis Bay; French: Baie Saint-Louis) is a shallow-water, partially enclosed estuary of the northeast Gulf of Mexico along the southwestern coast of Mississippi.[1][2][3][4] The estuary receives freshwater input from one blackwater, or swamp-land, the Jourdan River on the west and the Wolf River on the east and some smaller streams (Bayou Portage); these are mixed in the bay with salt water from Mississippi Sound and the Mississippi Bight.[1][2] The waters are comparatively well mixed, with an average salinity of less than 20.[2]
Bay of St. Louis | |
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Location | Southwest coast of Mississippi |
Coordinates | 30°20′49″N 89°19′01″W / 30.347°N 89.317°W |
Type | Estuary |
River sources | Jourdan River Wolf River |
Basin countries | United States |
Average depth | 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) |
Salinity | <20 (average) |
Settlements | Pass Christian Bay St. Louis Diamondhead |
The Bay of St. Louis is classified as an "impaired" waterway by the United States Environmental Protection Agency due to high fecal coliform levels in the waters from urban development on the bay and surrounding waters.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b Wang, Xuri; Cai, Yihua; Guo, Laodong (2010-04-20). "Preferential removal of dissolved carbohydrates during estuarine mixing in the Bay of Saint Louis in the northern Gulf of Mexico". Marine Chemistry. 119 (1–4): 130–138. doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2010.01.006.
- ^ a b c Lin, Peng; Chen, Min; Guo, Laodong (2012-06-15). "Speciation and transformation of phosphorus and its mixing behavior in the Bay of St. Louis estuary in the northern Gulf of Mexico". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 87: 283–298. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2012.03.040.
- ^ Blain, C.A.; Edwards, C.R. (2002). "Development of a forecast capability for coastal embayments of the Mississippi Sound" (PDF). OCEANS '02 MTS/IEEE. IEEE: 1501–1508. doi:10.1109/OCEANS.2002.1191859. ISBN 978-0-7803-7534-5.
- ^ Blain, Cheryl Ann; Veeramony, Jayaram (2002-07-23). "The Role of River Discharge and Vertical Mixing Formulation on Barotropic Circulation in Bay St. Louis, MS". Estuarine and Coastal Modeling. American Society of Civil Engineers: 743–764. doi:10.1061/40628(268)48. ISBN 978-0-7844-0628-1.
- ^ Liu, Zhijun; Hashim, Noor B.; Kingery, William L.; Huddleston, David H. (2010-01-29). "Fecal coliform modeling under two flow scenarios in St. Louis Bay of Mississippi". Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A. 45 (3): 282–291. doi:10.1080/10934520903467949. ISSN 1093-4529.