1. Estuaries

2. What do you think an estuary is?
Think about this statement….what happens when freshwater meets saltwater?
ebly.com/part-1-resources.html

3. Open to page 25/26 of your notebook
You will complete this activity in your group of four.
Choose one tablemate to be the reader.
Choose one tablemate to be the facilitator for discussion.
Everyone will record their answers on page 25 of their notebook in a complete sentence.
Use page 26 as a reference.

4. Open to page 25/26 of your notebook
You will complete this activity individually.
Record their answers on page 25 of their notebook.
Use page 26 as a reference.

5. Is Mobile Bay, Alabama located on a coast
Is Mobile Bay, Alabama located on a coast? If yes, what large body of water is that coast on?
Yes, Mobile Bay is located on a coast.
Gulf coast of Alabama
The large body of water is the Gulf of Mexico.

6. Can you find evidence that fresh water enters Mobile Bay/
Freshwater enters Mobile Bay from the surrounding watershed.
There are many rivers on the map that empty fresh water from the land into Mobile Bay.

7. Can you find evidence that salt water is entering the bay?
The mouth of Mobile Bay opens to the Gulf of Mexico, which is part of the world’s oceans.
Water entering Mobile Bay from the Gulf of Mexico is salt water.

8. Do you think Mobile Bay is an estuary?
Yes Mobile Bay is an estuary.
It is a semi-closed body of freshwater that has salt water entering it from the Gulf of Mexico and fresh water entering from rivers.

9. Now examine the shoreline inside Mobile Bay and see if you can find another, smaller estuary. Name the estuary and describe the features you think make it an estuary.
The smaller “sub-estuary” is named Weeks Bay.
Weeks Bay is an estuary because it has fresh water entering from the Magnolia and Fresh Rivers. It has salt water entering through the mouth of Weeks Bay from Mobile Bay.