Long Island Sound
Beach on Long Iceland Sound
Western side of the Sounds in New York City. 1: Hudson River, 2: East River, 3: Long Iceland Sound, 4 Newark Bay, 5: Upper New York Bay, 6: Lower New York Bay, 7: Jamaica Bay, 8: Atlantic
The Long Iceland Sound ( ˌ lɑ ː ŋaɪlənd saʊnd, in German also Long - Iceland - Sound ) is a fjord in the west of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island of Long Iceland at the North American east coast of the mainland, which belongs essentially to the State of Connecticut. The cities of Bridgeport, New London, Stamford, Norwalk and New Haven in Connecticut are also on sound like the New York City Districts Bronx and Queens.
Formation
18,000 years ago the area now sounds through the ice of the last ice age (Wisconsin Glacial Episode ) was covered. The continental ice sheet scraped from the land mass of present-day New England in the average height from 20 meters of material and stored it on the shelf again. This material forms today the island Long Iceland. The actual bay existed before the icing, probably it is caused by glacier water runoff older ice ages. The sediments at greater depths, however, show that the bay in its history - separately from the sea - a freshwater lake was.
Physical parameters
The sound is about 177 km long and up to 34 km wide. The average depth is 24 m, the maximum depth of 91 m. The bay is open on both sides, on the eastern side is the greater opening to the Atlantic. At its western end the sound enters the narrow East River, which represents the connection to the southwestern Atlantic. Numerous rivers such as the Connecticut River empty into the bay, most of the northern side. Due to the strong tidal current, which detects the entire bay, finds a strong mixing of the water body instead of the water in the eastern part of Atlantic origin with a salinity of 35 parts per thousand, in the estuaries and in the West is brackish water with salinities of 22 parts per thousand dominant. The largest bay on the north shore of Long Island, is the Smithtown Bay, to exist alongside many smaller bays and fjords. Some islands are located off the coast of Connecticut and close to the open side of the bay to the east.
Traffic
The two banks of sounds are connected by a ferry service. The most important is the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry between the towns of Port Jefferson on Long Iceland and Bridgeport in Connecticut. This compound has been around since 1872. Various projects for bridge construction, which will be discussed since 1930, have so far failed. Furthermore, there are some submarine cable, including the approximately 40 -kilometer Cross Sound Cable that connects the power grids of New England and Long Iceland together.
Others
In 1614 achieved the first European Dutchman Adriaen Block, by the East River Bay and crossed it completely.
During colonial times, the sound also The Devil's Belt was called. A reef, which is located in the bay, however, was known as the Devil's Stepping Stones. There is the lighthouse Stepping Stones Lighthouse.
On 15 June 1904, 1,000 people died on the way to the recreation park Locust Grove on Long Iceland Sound aboard the excursion steamer General Slocum.
The Sunken Meadow State Park is a state park on the bay, about 40 kilometers east of Manhattan on Long Iceland.
In the cities around the Sound about four million people live in the entire catchment area of nearly nine million.