Puget Sound
Puget Sound | ||
---|---|---|
x̌ʷəlč ( Primary inflows Deschutes River, Nisqually River, Puyallup River, Duwamish River, Cedar River, Snohomish River, Stillaguamish River, Skagit River | | |
Primary outflows | Admiralty Inlet, Deception Pass avg: 41,000 cu ft/s (1,200 m3/s)[3] max: 367,000 cu ft/s (10,400 m3/s) min: 14,000 cu ft/s (400 m3/s) | |
Catchment area | 12,138 sq mi (31,440 km2)[4] | |
Max. length | 100 mi (160 km) | |
Max. width | 10 mi (16 km) | |
Surface area | 1,020 sq mi (2,600 km2)[3] | |
Average depth | 450 ft (140 m) | |
Max. depth | 930 ft (280 m)[3] | |
Water volume | 26.5 cu mi (110 km3)[3] | |
Settlements | Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Everett, Bremerton |
Puget Sound (
Puget Sound extends approximately 100 miles (160 km) from Deception Pass in the north to Olympia in the south. Its average depth is 450 feet (140 m)[6] and its maximum depth, off Jefferson Point between Indianola and Kingston, is 930 feet (280 m). The depth of the main basin, between the southern tip of Whidbey Island and Tacoma, is approximately 600 feet (180 m).[3]
In 2009, the term Salish Sea was established by the United States Board on Geographic Names as the collective waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Strait of Georgia. Sometimes the terms "Puget Sound" and "Puget Sound and adjacent waters" are used for not only Puget Sound proper but also for waters to the north, such as Bellingham Bay and the San Juan Islands region.[7]
The term "Puget Sound" is used not just for the body of water but also the Puget Sound region centered on the sound. Major cities on the sound include Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Everett. Puget Sound is also the second-largest estuary in the United States, after Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia.[8]
Names
In 1792,
An alternative term for Puget Sound, used by a number of Native Americans and environmental groups, is Whulge (or Whulj), an Anglicization of the Lushootseed name for Puget Sound, x̌ʷəlč, which literally means "sea, salt water, ocean, or sound". The name for the Lushootseed language, dxʷləšucid, is derived from the root word √ləš, an alternative name for Puget Sound.[1][2]
Definitions
The USGS defines Puget Sound as all the waters south of three entrances from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The main entrance at Admiralty Inlet is defined as a line between Point Wilson on the Olympic Peninsula, and Point Partridge on Whidbey Island. The second entrance is at Deception Pass along a line from West Point on Whidbey Island, to Deception Island, then to Rosario Head on Fidalgo Island. The third entrance is at the south end of the Swinomish Channel, which connects Skagit Bay and Padilla Bay.[10] Under this definition, Puget Sound includes the waters of Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, Possession Sound, Saratoga Passage, and others. It does not include Bellingham Bay, Padilla Bay, the waters of the San Juan Islands or anything farther north.
Another definition, given by NOAA, subdivides Puget Sound into five basins or regions. Four of these (including South Puget Sound) correspond to areas within the USGS definition, but the fifth, called "Northern Puget Sound" includes a large additional region. It is defined as bounded to the north by the international boundary with Canada, and to the west by a line running north from the mouth of the Sekiu River on the Olympic Peninsula.[11] Under this definition, significant parts of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia are included in Puget Sound, with the international boundary marking an abrupt and hydrologically arbitrary limit.
According to Arthur Kruckeberg, the term "Puget Sound" is sometimes used for waters north of Admiralty Inlet and Deception Pass, especially for areas along the north coast of Washington and the San Juan Islands, essentially equivalent to NOAA's "Northern Puget Sound" subdivision described above. Kruckeberg uses the term "Puget Sound and adjacent waters".[7] Kruckeberg's 1991 text, however, does not reflect the 2009 decision of the United States Board on Geographic Names to use the term Salish Sea to refer to the greater maritime environment.
Geology
Continental
The melting retreat of the Vashon Glaciation eroded the land, creating a drumlin field of hundreds of aligned drumlin hills. Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish (which are ribbon lakes), Hood Canal, and the main Puget Sound basin were altered by glacial forces. These glacial forces are not specifically "carving", as in cutting into the landscape via the mechanics of ice/glaciers, but rather eroding the landscape from melt water of the Vashon Glacier creating the drumlin field. As the ice retreated, vast amounts of glacial till were deposited throughout the Puget Sound region.[12] The soils of the region, less than ten thousand years old, are still characterized as immature.
As the Vashon glacier receded a series of proglacial lakes formed, filling the main trough of Puget Sound and inundating the southern lowlands. Glacial Lake Russell was the first such large recessional lake. From the vicinity of Seattle in the north the lake extended south to the Black Hills, where it drained south into the Chehalis River.[13] Sediments from Lake Russell form the blue-gray clay identified as the Lawton Clay. The second major recessional lake was Glacial Lake Bretz. It also drained to the Chehalis River until the Chimacum Valley , in the northeast Olympic Peninsula, melted, allowing the lake's water to rapidly drain north into the marine waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which was rising as the ice sheet retreated.[13]
As icebergs calved off the toe of the glacier, their embedded gravels and boulders were deposited in the chaotic mix of unsorted till geologists call glaciomarine drift. Many beaches about the Sound display glacial erratics, rendered more prominent than those in coastal woodland solely by their exposed position; submerged glacial erratics sometimes cause hazards to navigation. The sheer weight of glacial-age ice depressed the landforms, which experienced post-glacial rebound after the ice sheets had retreated. Because the rate of rebound was not synchronous with the post-ice age rise in sea levels, the bed of what is now Puget Sound filled alternately with fresh and with sea water. The upper level of the lake-sediment Lawton Clay now lies about 120 feet (37 m) above sea level.
The Puget Sound system consists of four deep basins connected by shallower sills. The four basins are Hood Canal, west of the Kitsap Peninsula, Whidbey Basin, east of Whidbey Island, South Sound, south of the Tacoma Narrows, and the Main Basin, which is further subdivided into Admiralty Inlet and the Central Basin.[14] Puget Sound's sills, a kind of submarine terminal moraine, separate the basins from one another, and Puget Sound from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Three sills are particularly significant—the one at Admiralty Inlet which checks the flow of water between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, the one at the entrance to Hood Canal (about 175 ft or 53 m below the surface), and the one at the Tacoma Narrows (about 145 ft or 44 m). Other sills that present less of a barrier include the ones at Blake Island, Agate Pass, Rich Passage, and Hammersley Inlet.[7]
The depth of the basins is a result of the Sound being part of the
Typical Puget Sound profiles of dense glacial till overlying permeable glacial outwash of gravels above an impermeable bed of silty clay may become unstable after periods of unusually wet weather and slump in landslides.[16]
Hydrology
The
Puget Sound is a large salt water estuary, or system of many estuaries, fed by highly seasonal freshwater from the Olympic and Cascade Mountain watersheds. The mean annual river discharge into Puget Sound is 41,000 cubic feet per second (1,200 m3/s), with a monthly average maximum of about 367,000 cubic feet per second (10,400 m3/s) and minimum of about 14,000 cubic feet per second (400 m3/s). Puget Sound's shoreline is 1,332 miles (2,144 km) long, encompassing a water area of 1,020 square miles (2,600 km2) and a total volume of 26.5 cubic miles (110 km3) at mean high water. The average volume of water flowing in and out of Puget Sound during each tide is 1.26 cubic miles (5.3 km3). The maximum tidal currents, in the range of 9 to 10 knots, occurs at Deception Pass.[3] Water flow through Deception Pass is approximately equal to 2% of the total tidal exchange between Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.[3]
The size of Puget Sound's
Tides in Puget Sound are of the mixed type with two high and two low tides each tidal day. These are called Higher High Water (HHW), Lower Low Water (LLW), Lower High Water (LHW), and Higher Low Water (HLW). The configuration of basins, sills, and interconnections cause the tidal range to increase within Puget Sound. The difference in height between the Higher High Water and the Lower Low Water averages about 8.3 feet (2.5 m) at Port Townsend on Admiralty Inlet, but increases to about 14.4 feet (4.4 m) at Olympia, the southern end of Puget Sound.[3]
Puget Sound is generally accepted as the start of the Inside Passage.[20][21]
Flora and fauna
Important marine flora of Puget Sound include eelgrass (
Among the marine mammals species found in Puget Sound are harbor seals (Phoca vitulina).[25] Orca (Orcinus orca), or "killer whales" are famous throughout the Sound, and are a large tourist attraction. Although orca are sometimes seen in Puget Sound proper they are far more prevalent around the San Juan Islands north of Puget Sound.[26]
Many fish species occur in Puget Sound. The various salmonid species, including salmon, trout, and char are particularly well-known and studied. Salmonid species of Puget Sound include chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), chum salmon (O. keta), coho salmon (O. kisutch), pink salmon (O. gorbuscha), sockeye salmon (O. nerka), sea-run coastal cutthroat trout (O. clarki clarki), steelhead (O. mykiss irideus), sea-run bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus), and Dolly Varden trout (Salvelinus malma malma).[27][28]
Common
Many other fish species occur in Puget Sound, such as sturgeons, lampreys, various sharks, rays, and skates.[32]
Puget Sound is home to numerous species of marine invertebrates, including
In 1967, an initial scuba survey estimated that were "about 110 million pounds of geoducks" (pronounced "gooey ducks") situated in Puget Sound's sediments.[36] Also known as "king clam", geoducks are considered to be a delicacy in Asian countries.
There are many
History
Puget Sound has been home to many Indigenous peoples, such as the
Dispatched in an attempt to locate the fabled Northwest Passage, British Royal Navy captain George Vancouver anchored on May 19, 1792, on the shores of Seattle, explored Puget Sound, and claimed it for Great Britain on June 4 the same year, naming it for one of his officers, Lieutenant Peter Puget. He further named the entire region; New Georgia, after King George III.[40][41] After 1818 Britain and the United States, which both claimed the Oregon Country, agreed to "joint occupancy", deferring resolution of the Oregon boundary dispute until the 1846 Oregon Treaty. Puget Sound was part of the disputed region until 1846, after which it became US territory.
American maritime fur traders visited Puget Sound in the early 19th century.[42]
An Hudson's Bay Company expedition led by James McMillan in late 1824 was first non-Indigenous group to enter Puget Sound since George Vancouver in 1792. The expedition went on to reach the Fraser River, first again to reach the lower Fraser since Fraser himself in 1808.[43]
The first non-Indigenous settlement in the Puget Sound area was Fort Nisqually, a fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) built in 1833.[44] Fort Nisqually was part of the HBC's Columbia District, headquartered at Fort Vancouver. In 1838, the HBC's subsidy operation, the Puget Sound Agricultural Company was established in part to procure resources and trade, as well as to further establish British claim to the region.[45] Missionaries J.P. Richmond and W.H. Wilson were attending Fort Nisqually for two years by 1840.[46] British ships, such as the Beaver, exported foodstuffs and provisions from Fort Nisqually, and would eventually export Puget Sound lumber, an industry that would soon outpace the dominant fur trading market and drive the early Puget Sound economy.[47][48]
The first organized American expedition took place under the helm of Commander
Transportation
The Washington State Ferries (WSF) are a state-run ferry system that connects the larger islands of Puget Sound the Washington mainland, and the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas. Its vessels carry both passengers and vehicular traffic. The system averaged 24.3 million passengers in the 2010s[53] and 17.2 in 2022 with the COVID-19 pandemic.[54] It is the largest ferry operator in the United States.[53]
Environmental issues
Over the past 30 years, as the human population of the region has increased, there has been a correlating decrease in various plant and animal species which inhabit Puget Sound. The decline has been seen in numerous populations including
The causes of these environmental issues are toxic contamination, eutrophication (low oxygen due to excess nutrients), and near shore habitat changes.[56]
On May 22, 1978, a valve was mistakenly opened aboard the submarine
See also
- Back-arc basin – Submarine features associated with island arcs and subduction zones
- Fjords of Canada
- Fjords of the United States
- Puget Sound AVA
- Seattle metropolitan area – metropolitan area in Washington State, United States
References
- ^ a b c Zalmai, Zahir (2009). A Lushootseed Analysis of a 1877 Dictionary by George Gibbs (PDF). Zahir Consulting Services. p. 218.
- ^ ISBN 9780295973234.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lincoln, John H. "The Puget Sound Model Summary". Pacific Science Center. Archived from the original on 10 March 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Watershed Boundary Dataset". USDA, NRCS, National Cartography and Geospatial Center. Archived from the original on October 8, 2010. Retrieved September 6, 2010. ArcExplorer GIS data viewer.
- ^ "Basic Information about Estuaries". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on November 29, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Saving the Sound". Washington State Department of Ecology. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ a b c Kruckeberg 1991, pp. 61–64
- ^ "Saving Puget Sound". Washington State Department of Ecology. Archived from the original on June 22, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
- ^ Kruckeberg 1991, pp. 427–428
- ^ "Puget Sound". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ Environmental History and Features of Puget Sound Archived May 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, see also: Map of subareas of Puget Sound Archived May 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Marine Fisheries Service
- ^ a b Kruckeberg 1991, pp. 18–23
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8137-4120-8. Archivedfrom the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
- ^ "Features of Puget Sound Region: Oceanography and P" (PDF). Seattle: King County Department of Natural Resources. 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 22, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Folds at surface show ancient seismic stresses still at work in Washington". University of Washington. June 1, 2004. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
- ^ "Puget Sound landslides". Washington State Department of Ecology. Archived from the original on August 16, 2006.
- ^ "Physiographic divisions of the conterminous U. S." U.S. Geological Survey. Archived from the original on December 5, 2007. Retrieved December 6, 2007.
- USGS. Archivedfrom the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- USGS. Archivedfrom the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-87779-017-4. Archivedfrom the original on March 17, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-55963-655-1. Archivedfrom the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
- ^ "Eelgrass". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Kelp". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Sugar Kelp, Kombu, Sugar Wrack – Seaweeds of the Pacific Northwest". Seaweeds of the Pacific Northwest. September 30, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- ^ "Harbor seals". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Killer Whales". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Salmonids". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Puget Sound Shorelines: Salmon". Washington Department of Ecology. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- ^ "Forage Fishes". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Bentho-Pelagic Fish". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Rockfish". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Taxonomic List of Puget Sound Fishes". Burke Museum. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ Kruckeberg 1991, p. 79
- ^ "Dungeness Crabs". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Bivalves". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Commercial wild stock geoduck clam fishery". Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. History of the fishery. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
- ^ "Marine birds". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Bald eagles". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ISSN 2055-5563.
- ^ "Territorial Timeline: While searching for the Northwest Passage, Captain George Vancouver explores Puget Sound and names the bordering land New Georgia". Washington State Archives. July 6, 2022. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023.
- OCLC 40813256– via Internet Archive.
- ^ Mackie 1997, pp. 146Archived December 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Williams, David B. (March 19, 2020). "Hudson's Bay Company builds Fort Nisqually in spring 1833". HistoryLink. Essay 20999. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
- ^ "History of Fort Nisqually". Metro Parks Tacoma. Archived from the original on August 10, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- from the original on June 4, 2021 – via JSTOR.
- from the original on August 15, 2020 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Mackie 1997, pp. 235–239.
- from the original on June 4, 2021 – via JSTOR.
- ^ "City of Tumwater, WA: History". City of Tumwater, WA. June 21, 2014. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014.
- ^ "Settlers met at Monticello to sign a petition asking Congress to create a separate territory north of the Columbia River". Washington State Archives. Washington Secretary of State. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
- ^ Oldham, Kit (March 5, 2003). "First trains cross the Northern Pacific Railroad bridge spanning the Columbia River between Pasco and Kennewick on December 3, 1887". HistoryLink. Essay 5365. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
- OCLC 852158872.
- ^ a b "Washington State Ferries Fact Sheet" (PDF). Washington State Department of Transportation. January 2023. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
- ^ Washington State Department of Transportation, Ferries Division (December 28, 2022). "FY 2022 WSDOT Ferries Division Performance Report" (PDF). Retrieved March 23, 2024.
- ^ "Health of the Salish Sea Ecosystem Report". Environmental Protection Agency. May 13, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
- ^ a b "2007 Puget Sound Update: Ninth Report of the Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program". Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Archived from the original on July 26, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ Kaplan, David B. (August 1983). "The Silent Saga of the Nuclear Navy". Oceans Magazine. Archived from the original on August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
Sources
- Kruckeberg, Arthur R. (1991). The Natural History of Puget Sound Country. Seattle: University of Washington Press. OCLC 1345617769– via Internet Archive.
- Mackie, Richard Somerset (1997). Trading beyond the mountains: the British fur trade on the Pacific, 1793–1843. UBC Press. OCLC 180704193.
Further reading
- Jones, M. A. (1999). Geologic framework for the Puget Sound aquifer system, Washington and British Columbia. Reston, Virginia: US Geological Survey. p. 44. OCLC 896811412. 1424C.
- Jovanelly, Tamie J.; Moore, Andrew L. (2009). "Sedimentological Analysis of an Ancient Sand Sheet of Multiple Origins at Lynch Cove, Puget Sound, Washington". Journal of Coastal Research. 25 (2): 294–304. S2CID 128926730.
- LeWarne, Charles Pierce (1995). Utopias on Puget Sound, 1885-1915. Seattle: University of Washington Press. OCLC 47010928– via Internet Archive.
- JSTOR j.ctvcwn271
- ISBN 978-0-266-41119-2
External links
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Oliver S. Van Olinda Photographs A collection of 420 photographs depicting life on Vashon Island, Whidbey Island, Seattle, and other communities of Washington State's Puget Sound from the 1880s through the 1930s.
- "Geology of Puget Sound". Pacific Science Center. September 10, 2005. Archived from the original on February 9, 2006.
- Torresan, Laura Zink (April 4, 2005). "Puget Sound Earthquake Origin and Occurrence". U.S. Geological Survey. Archived from the original on May 27, 2006.
- "Features of Puget Sound Region: Oceanography and Physical Processes" (PDF). Reconnaissance Assessment of the State of the Nearshore Report Including Vashon and Maury Islands (WRIAs 8 and 9). King County, Washington. May 2001. Retrieved March 12, 2024.