At the time of the last glacial maximum, about 18,000 years ago, global sea level was about 130 meters lower than it is at present. Between 18,000 and about 6000 years ago, most of the ice melted off of Canada and Scandinavia, causing sea level to rise, flooding the all the rims of the dry lands.

At the glacial maximum, the coastline near lay near the edge of the continental shelf. Chesapeake Bay and its related waterways were dry-land river valleys. As sea level rose during the glacial melt down, the coast gradually moved inland, across the shelf and into the bay.

To view this movie, click on the images.

Download: Flooding of Chesapeake Bay Movie (7 MB).

This movie was originally created as part of an introductory movie for the Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, Maryland. The data maps for this movie were compiled by Peter Vogt. The animation was created by Tanya Atwater, using Photoshop and Morph. The animation work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Comments on this and all of the materials offered on this site are welcomed: atwater@geol.ucsb.edu