Aerial view of Carquinez Strait and Carquinez Bridge.

Carquinez Strait

The Carquinez Strait is a narrow tidal strait in northern California. A strait is a narrow navigable Channel of water that connects two larger navigable bodies of water California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the tidal estuary of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers as they drain into the San Francisco Bay. An 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 The Sacramento River is the longest River entirely within the U The San Joaquin River ( 330 miles (530 km long is the second-longest River in California, United States. San Francisco Bay is a shallow productive Estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento The strait connects Suisun Bay, which receives the waters of the combined rivers, with San Pablo Bay, a northern extension of the San Francisco Bay. Suisun Bay (pronounced "soo-soon" is a shallow Tidal estuary located at in central California, USA. San Pablo Bay is a shallow tidal Estuary that forms the northern extension

Location

The strait forms part of the border between Solano (to the north) and Contra Costa (to the south) counties, and is approximately 15 mi (25 km) north of Oakland. Solano County is a County located in Bay-Delta region of the U Contra Costa County ( Spanish for "opposite coast" is a suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U Oakland (ˈoʊklənd founded in 1852 is the eighth-largest city in the U The cities of Benicia and Vallejo lie on the north side of the strait, while Martinez, Port Costa and Crockett sit on the southern coast. Benicia is a waterside city in Solano County, California, United States. Vallejo (vəˈleɪoʊ or /vəˈleɪhoʊ/ in English /baˈjeho/ in the original Spanish) is the largest city in Solano County Martinez ( "mar-TEE-niss" or "mar-TEE-nezz") is the County seat of Contra Costa County California, United States The Napa River joins the strait, via the short Mare Island Strait, near its entrance into San Pablo Bay. The Napa River, approximately 55 miles (89 km long is a River in the U

Name

The strait is named after the Karkin ("los Carquines" in Spanish), a lingustic division of the Ohlone Native Americans who resided on both sides of the Strait. Karkin (also called Los Carquines in Spanish is a name of one sub-group of the indigenous Ohlone people of California, as well as the name of the The Ohlone people also known as the Costanoan and as the Muwekma, are the indigenous people of Northern California who have lived in the Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States ^[1]

Installations

The California Maritime Academy is at the western end of the strait on the northern waterfront. The California Maritime Academy (also known as CMA, Cal Maritime, and CSU Maritime) is one of 23 campuses in the California State University A refinery is at the eastern end on the southern shore.

Bridges

The strait is crossed by two highway bridges, the Carquinez Bridge on Interstate 80 and the Benicia-Martinez Bridge on Interstate 680. The Carquinez Bridge refers to two parallel bridges which cross the Carquinez Strait linking Vallejo California to the north with Crockett In the US state of California, Interstate 80, a major east-west route of the Interstate Highway System, has its western terminus in San Francisco The Benicia-Martinez Bridge refers to three parallel bridges which cross the Carquinez Strait just west of Suisun Bay; the spans link Benicia California Interstate 680 (I-680 is a north-south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U Each highway bridge is composed of two spans.

Interstate 780 connects the two highways on the northern slope of the strait. Interstate 780 (I-780 is an Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U State Route 4 connects these highways to South of and inland from the strait. State Route 4 is a State highway in the US state of California, routed from Interstate 80 to State Route 89.

A rail bridge is just east of the Benicia-Martinez bridge, which is used by the Capitol Corridor, California Zephyr and Coast Starlight trains. The Capitol Corridor is a 172-mile (275 km Passenger train route operated by Amtrak in California. The California Zephyr is a 2438-mile (3924-km long Passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Western United The Coast Starlight is a 1377-mile (2235 km Passenger train route operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States. A rail ferry once crossed the straight near the location of the current rail bridge. See also Merchant ship A train ferry is a Ship designed to carry railway vehicles

Some tall pylons carrying power lines cross the Strait as well. Electric power transmission, a process in the delivery of Electricity to consumers is the bulk transfer of electrical power

Ship traffic

The channel is navigable and is used for commercial and military shipping. Deep water ship traffic bound for both the Port of Sacramento and the Port of Stockton traverse the straight. The Port of Sacramento is an inland port located 79 nautical miles northeast of San Francisco, and is centered in one of the richest agricultural regions in the world The Port of Stockton is a major inland deep water port in Stockton California located on the San Joaquin River before it joins the Sacramento River to

Formation of delta

The narrow gap in the Coast Range that the strait goes through has led to the formation of the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, an inverted river delta, behind it, which is a rare geological feature. The Coast Ranges of California constitute one of the eleven traditional geomorphic provinces of California. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is an expansive inland River delta and Estuary in northern California in the United States. An inverted river delta is special category of River delta in which the narrow end of the delta emerges on the seafront and the wide end is located further inland so that with

Trivia

• In 1985, an errant humpback whale swam up the Carquinez Strait as far as Rio Vista. The humpback whale ( Megaptera novaeangliae) is a Baleen Whale. Rio Vista may refer to Rio Vista California Rio Vista (Fort Lauderdale, a neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale Florida Named Humphrey the whale by the media, he was successfully turned around and rescued by The Marine Mammal Center and other volunteers. Humphrey the Whale is arguably the most widely publicized Humpback whale in history having errantly entered San Francisco Bay twice departing from his Mexico The Marine Mammal Center is a private non-profit US organization centered on rescue rehabilitation environmental research and education regarding Marine mammals
• The USNS Glomar Explorer (T-AG-193) was moored for many years at the eastern end of the straight. Project Jennifer See also Project Jennifer Since the K-129 had sunk in very deep water a large ship was required for the recovery operation

References