Bay of St. Louis

Bay of St. Louis
Location Southwest coast of Mississippi
Coordinates 30°20′49″N 89°19′01″W / 30.347°N 89.317°W / 30.347; -89.317Coordinates: 30°20′49″N 89°19′01″W / 30.347°N 89.317°W / 30.347; -89.317
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 (St. Louis Bay) 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 two blackwater, or swamp-land, tributaries of the Mississippi River, 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]

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

  1. 1 2 Wang, X, Y. Cai, and L. Guo. 2010. Referential removal of dissolved carbohydrates during estuarine mixing in the Bay of St. Louis in the northern Gulf of Mexico, in Marine Chemistry 11(1-4):130-138.
  2. 1 2 3 Lin, P., M. Chen, L. Guo. 2012. Speciation and transformation of phosphorus and its mixing behavior in the Bay of St. Louis estuary in the northern Gulf of Mexico, in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 87:283-298.
  3. ↑ Blain, CA, CR Edwards. 2002. Development of a forecast capability for coastal embayments of the Mississippi Sound, in OCEANS '02 MTS/IEEE 3:1501-1508
  4. ↑ Blain, CA, J Veeramony. 2002. The role of river discharge and vertical mixing formulation on barotropic circulation in Bay St. Louis, MS, in Estuarine and Coastal Modeling, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference, ML Spaulding, editor, 745-764.
  5. ↑ Lui, Z, NB Hashim, WL Kingery, DH Huddleston. 2010. Fecal coliform modeling under two flow scenarios in St. Louis Bay of Mississippi, in Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A: Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering 45(3):282-291.


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