Buzzards Bay is a
bayHeadlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found together on the same stretch of coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are...
of the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
adjacent to the
U.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
of
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (twelve kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for
fishingFishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
,
boatingBoating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether power boats, sail boats, or yachts , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or waterskiing...
, and
tourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other...
. Since 1914, Buzzards Bay has been connected to
Cape Cod BayCape Cod Bay is a large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is enclosed by Cape Cod to the south and east, and Plymouth County, Massachusetts, to the west; to the north of Cape Cod Bay lie Massachusetts Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Cod Bay is the...
by the
Cape Cod CanalThe Cape Cod Canal is a man-made waterway traversing the narrow neck of land that joins Cape Cod to mainland Massachusetts.Part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the canal is roughly 17.4 miles long and connects Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south...
. In 1987, Buzzards Bay was designated an Estuary of National Significance.
It is surrounded by the
Elizabeth IslandsThe Elizabeth Islands are a chain of small islands extending southwest from the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the United States. They are located at the outer edge of Buzzards Bay, north of Martha's Vineyard from which they are separated by Vineyard Sound, and constitute the town of...
on the south, by
Cape CodCape Cod, often referred to as simply the Cape, and called Cape of Keel by early Norse explorers, is a peninsula in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. It is coextensive with Barnstable County...
on the east, and the
southern coastsThe South Coast of Massachusetts is the region of southeastern Massachusetts consisting of southern Bristol and Plymouth counties bordering Buzzards Bay, and includes the cities of Fall River, New Bedford, the southeastern tip of East Taunton and nearby towns...
of
BristolBristol County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, adjacent to the state of Rhode Island. As of 2005, the population was estimated at 546,331. Some governmental functions are performed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, others by the county, and others by local towns and...
and
PlymouthPlymouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of 2000, the population was 472,822. Its county seats are Plymouth and Brockton. In 1685 the County was created by the Plymouth General Court.-Geography:According to the U.S...
counties in Massachusetts to the northwest.
Buzzards Bay is a
bayHeadlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found together on the same stretch of coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are...
of the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
adjacent to the
U.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
of
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (twelve kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for
fishingFishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
,
boatingBoating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether power boats, sail boats, or yachts , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or waterskiing...
, and
tourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other...
. Since 1914, Buzzards Bay has been connected to
Cape Cod BayCape Cod Bay is a large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is enclosed by Cape Cod to the south and east, and Plymouth County, Massachusetts, to the west; to the north of Cape Cod Bay lie Massachusetts Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Cod Bay is the...
by the
Cape Cod CanalThe Cape Cod Canal is a man-made waterway traversing the narrow neck of land that joins Cape Cod to mainland Massachusetts.Part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the canal is roughly 17.4 miles long and connects Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south...
. In 1987, Buzzards Bay was designated an Estuary of National Significance.
Geography
It is surrounded by the
Elizabeth IslandsThe Elizabeth Islands are a chain of small islands extending southwest from the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the United States. They are located at the outer edge of Buzzards Bay, north of Martha's Vineyard from which they are separated by Vineyard Sound, and constitute the town of...
on the south, by
Cape CodCape Cod, often referred to as simply the Cape, and called Cape of Keel by early Norse explorers, is a peninsula in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. It is coextensive with Barnstable County...
on the east, and the
southern coastsThe South Coast of Massachusetts is the region of southeastern Massachusetts consisting of southern Bristol and Plymouth counties bordering Buzzards Bay, and includes the cities of Fall River, New Bedford, the southeastern tip of East Taunton and nearby towns...
of
BristolBristol County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, adjacent to the state of Rhode Island. As of 2005, the population was estimated at 546,331. Some governmental functions are performed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, others by the county, and others by local towns and...
and
PlymouthPlymouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of 2000, the population was 472,822. Its county seats are Plymouth and Brockton. In 1685 the County was created by the Plymouth General Court.-Geography:According to the U.S...
counties in Massachusetts to the northwest. To the southwest, the bay is connected to
Rhode Island SoundRhode Island Sound is a strait of water, off the coast of the state of Rhode Island at mouth of Narragansett Bay. It forms the eastern extension of Long Island Sound and opens out the Atlantic Ocean between Block Island and Martha's Vineyard....
. The city of
New Bedford, MassachusettsNew Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located 51 miles south of Boston, 28 miles southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about 12 miles east of Fall River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 93,768, making it the seventh-largest in the...
is a historically-significant port on Buzzards Bay; it was the world's most successful whaling port during the early- and mid-nineteenth century.
Geology
Buzzards Bay was created during the latter portion of the
PleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2.588 million to 12 000 years BP covering the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
epoch through the interplay of glacial and oceanic processes. Beginning fifty thousand to seventy thousand years ago, the edges of the continental
ice sheetAn ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the last glacial period at Last Glacial Maximum the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada and North America, the...
covering much of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
began to fluctuate, leaving
moraineA moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past ice age. This debris may have been plucked off the valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
s to mark the former extent of the receded ice. One such moraine forms Cape Cod, which is most of the eastern shoreline of Buzzards Bay.
In addition to the moraines, the melting ice sheet produced extensive outwash plains composed of mixed sediments and ice that bordered the bay to the northwest and west. Melting ice blocks in the outwash deposits formed distinctive circular features called kettle lakes. Numerous examples of kettle lakes can be found to the northwest of the Cape Cod Canal. Finally, waters released from the melting ice sheet raised sea level by sixty to one-hundred-twenty meters (198-396 feet) and drowned preexisting outwash channels. Toward the end of the last ice age, fifteen thousand years ago until about six thousand years ago, Buzzards Bay was still dry land. (See
Progression of sea-level change in Atlantic Canada.) During the past six thousand years, sea level has risen an average of one foot per century, and until about four thousand years ago, the landward boundary of Buzzards Bay extended only to about the current thirty-foot bathymetic contour, forming a coastline two-thirds of the way up the current bay, between West Falmouth and Mattapoisett.
The bay's current configuration, a well-mixed central bay and fringing shallow drowned-river valleys, with their shallow depth, tidal action, and surface waves, promotes mixing of the
estuarineAn estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries are thus subject to both marine influences, such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water; and riverine influences, such as flows of...
waters to create a productive aquatic ecosystem. Like many estuaries, however, increasing development and land-use changes by the surrounding communities are accompanied by nutrient runoff leading to
eutrophicationEutrophication is an increase in the concentration of chemical nutrients in an ecosystem to an extent that increases in the primary productivity of the ecosystem...
(an increase in nutrient levels leading to oxygen depletion) in the smaller embayments. Decreases in
eelgrassEelgrass may refer to:* Zostera, marine eelgrass* Vallisneria, freshwater eelgrass...
,
scallopA scallop is a marine bivalve mollusc of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source...
s, and
herringHerring are relatively small oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Two species of Clupea are currently recognized, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring , each of which may be...
have also been noted, but direct cause-and-effect relationships are not clear. Coordinated management efforts in Buzzards Bay have helped to decrease
shellfishShellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
closures, conserve habitat for sea birds, and preserve open space.
History
The name was given to this bay by
colonistsThe term colonial history of the United States refers to the history of the land that would become the United States from the start of European settlement to the time of independence from Europe, and especially to the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain which declared themselves independent...
who saw a large bird that they called a
buzzardA buzzard is one of several large birds, but there are a number of meanings as detailed below.-Old World:In the Old World Buzzard can mean:* One of several medium-sized, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings....
near its shores. The bird was actually an
ospreyThe Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching 60 centimetres in length with a 1.8 metre wingspan...
, and small numbers of osprey continue to breed along the shores of the bay.
In 1991, towns located on Buzzards Bay suffered the worst effects from the
storm surgeStorm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically a tropical cyclone. Storm surge is caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea level...
of
Hurricane BobHurricane Bob was the second named storm, first hurricane and first major hurricane of the 1991 Atlantic hurricane season. The only hurricane to make U.S. landfall during the 1991 season, Bob brushed the Outer Banks of North Carolina as it moved northward. The storm then struck New England and...
.
The bay was the location of one of only three documented fatal shark attacks in the state's history. It occurred in 1936.
Islands
- Elizabeth Islands
The Elizabeth Islands are a chain of small islands extending southwest from the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the United States. They are located at the outer edge of Buzzards Bay, north of Martha's Vineyard from which they are separated by Vineyard Sound, and constitute the town of...
- Amrita Island
Amrita Island is a small inhabited island in Squeteague Harbor in the village of Catumet in the town of Bourne, Massachusetts. Several residential homes are located on the island...
- Bachelor Island
Bachelor Island is a small barren rock just off the northeastern coast of Naushon Island in Massachusetts. The rock is southeast of South Shore Road on Naushon Island and southwest of Monohansett Island.'...
- Baret Island
Baret Island is a small, sandy but mostly-rocky, oval-shaped island in Buzzards Bay; it is part of the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts, USA. The island is just off the near mid-northern coast of Nashawena Island, northeast of Rock Island, southeast of a peninsula known as 'The Neck' on Nashawena...
- Bassetts Island
Bassetts Island is a propeller-shaped island within Pocasset Harbor and Red Brook Harbor, in Bourne, Massachusetts, USA.The island is geographically separated into four portions, the central, northeast, southeast, and the western. The island is inhabited ; there is one house on the western portion...
- Bird Island
-Europe:* Bird Island, County Down, a townland in County Down, Northern Ireland* Bird Island, Slovakia, Šamorín-Australia:* Bird Island, Queensland, Whitsunday Islands, Queensland* Bird Islands , Far North Queensland...
- Cuttyhunk Island
Cuttyhunk Island is the outermost of the Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts, located between Buzzards Bay to the north and Vineyard Sound to the south. Penikese Island and Nashawena Island are located to the north and east, respectively. The island has a land area of 2.35 km² and a population...
- Gull Island
- Monohansett Island
- Nashawena Island
Nashawena Island is the second largest of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA. It lies between Cuttyhunk Island to the west and Pasque Island to the east. The island has a land area of 7.076 km² and an official permanent population of 2 persons as of the 2000 census....
- Naushon Island
Naushon Island, part of the Elizabeth Islands, is seven miles long, just off Cape Cod, and four statute miles NW of Martha's Vineyard. The island is owned by the Forbes family and is included in the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts...
- Nonamesset Island
Nonamesset Island is the most easterly of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA. The island has a land area of 1.398 km² and was uninhabited as of the 2000 census....
- Onset Island
- Pasque Island
Pasque Island is one of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA. It lies between Nashawena Island to the west and Naushon Island to the east. The island has a land area of 3.45 km² and had a population of 2 persons as of the 2000 census....
- Penikese Island
- Uncatena Island
Uncatena Island is one of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA. It is the most northerly of the Elizabeth Islands and lies just northeast of the largest island, Naushon Island. Uncatena has a land area of 0.492 km² , and was uninhabited as of the 2000 census....
- Veckatimest Island
Veckatimest Island is one of the Elizabeth Islands, part of the town of Gosnold in Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA. The island has a land area of 0.0675 km² and was uninhabited as of the 2000 census....
- Weepecket Islands
The Weepecket Islands are a group of three islands which are part of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA. They are located off the north shore of Naushon Island, the largest of the Elizabeth Islands. Together the three Weepeckets have a land area of 0.051 km²...
- West Island
- Wickets Island
Wickets Island is a island located in Onset Harbor in Wareham, Massachusetts. It is located from shore.-History:The island is named for Jabez Wicket, the Wampanoag who is said to have lived there in the late 1700s...
See also
- List of islands of Massachusetts for a more-or-less complete listing of the islets, rocks, and ledges within the bay.
External links