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Topic Pages contain an overview, definitions, biographies, related topics, images, plus links to relevant articles and other content provided by your library. Topic Page: Potomac River

Definition: Potomac from Philip's Encyclopedia

River in E USA. It rises in West Virginia at the confluence of the North and South Branch rivers, and flows E and SE to Chesapeake Bay on the Atlantic coast, forming the boundaries of Maryland-West Virginia and Maryland-Virginia. Length: 462km (287mi).

Image from: Potomac River in Field Guide to Rivers of North America
Summary Article: Potomac River
From Field Guide to Rivers of North America

Relief: 1481 m

Basin area: 37,995 km2

Mean discharge: 320 m3/s

Mean annual precipitation: 99 cm

Mean air temperature: 12.3°C

Mean water temperature: 14.0°C

No. of fish species: 95 species (65 native)

No. of endangered species: 2

Physiographic provinces:

Appalachian Plateau (AP), Valley and Ridge (VR), Piedmont Plateau (PP), Blue Ridge (BL), Coastal Plain (CP)

Major fishes:

smallmouth bass, channel catfish, spottail shiner, spotfin shiner, bluntnose minnow, redhorse sucker, redbreast sunfish, bluegill, tessellated darter

Major other aquatic vertebrates:

beaver, muskrat, common snapping turtle, eastern painted turtle, great blue heron, bald eagle, osprey, Canada goose

Major benthic insects:

mayflies (Anthopotamus, Caenis, Ephoron, Serratella, Stenonema, Tricorythodes), caddisflies (Hydropsyche, Cheumatopsyche, Hydroptila, Potamyia, Macrostemum), true flies (Thienemannimyia, Tanytarsus, Cricotopus, Polypedilum, Cryptochironomus, Synorthocladius)

Nonnative species:

smallmouth bass, channel catfish, common carp, northern pike, muskellunge, Asiatic clam, hydrilla, Eurasian watermilfoil

Special features:

second-largest tributary to Chesapeake Bay, 174 km tidal/estuarine section

Fragmentation:

High, but only 3 impoundments >4 km2; >60 blockages in the Anacostia basin being removed or altered for fish passage.

Potomac River near Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.

(photo by A. C. Benke)

"Potomac River." In Field Guide to Rivers of North America, edited by Arthur C. Benke, and C. E. Cushing. Elsevier Science & Technology, 2009. https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/potomac_river
Potomac River. (2009). In A.C. Benke & C.E. Cushing (Eds.), Field guide to rivers of North America. [Online]. Oxford: Elsevier Science & Technology. Available from: https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/potomac_river [Accessed 14 December 2019].
"Potomac River." Field Guide to Rivers of North America, edited by Arthur C. Benke, and C. E. Cushing, Elsevier Science & Technology, 1st edition, 2009. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/potomac_river. Accessed 14 Dec. 2019.
Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Related Articles

Full text Article Potomac River
Field Guide to Rivers of North America

Relief: 1481 m Basin area: 37,995 km 2 Mean discharge: 320 m 3 /s Mean annual precipitation: 99 cm Mean air temperature: 12.3°C...

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