Neptune's Needle

W Calif.; entered through the Golden Gate, a strait bet. San Francisco (S) and Marin (W) peninsulas; crossed by Golden Gate Bridge; 50 miles, from 3-13 miles wide. Bay’s depth is up to 100 ft, with a channel 50 ft deep maintained through the sand bar off the Golden Gate. City of San Francisco is on the S peninsula; on the N peninsula are the residential suburbs of Marin co., while on the E shore of the crescent-shaped bay is Oakland and smaller cities of Alameda, Berkeley, and Richmond. The Santa Clara Valley extends SSE from S end of bay. San Jose is S of bay’s S end; on bay’s SW shore is Silicon Valley, which has large computer-technology-based economy, including Palo Alto, San Mateo, Menlo Park, and other communities. Angel Isl., Alcatraz, and Yerba Buena Isl. are in the bay. San Pablo Bay is the major N extension of San Francisco Bay, connected by San Pablo Strait, N of Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, including Hamilton Air Force Base on W side and Marr Isl. Naval Shipyard at Vallejo at NE end; bay extends further from San Pablo Bay E through narrow Carquinez Strait to Suisun Bay. Shipping channels continue from Suisun Bay N to W Sacramento and E to Terminow, 12 mi/19 km W of Lodi. Suisun Bay receives Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. SE end is marshy, entered by Coyote and Guadalupe creeks. The bay is crossed by the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge in N; the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge in N at entrance to San Pablo Bay, N extension of San Francisco Bay; the San Mateo Bridge; and the Dunbarton Bridge in S. The Trans-Bay Tube, a tunnel 3.5 mi/5.6 km long bet. San Francisco and Oakland, is one of the longest underwater rapid transit tubes in the world. The tunnel was esp. constructed to absorb earthquake tremors. Several U.S. Navy facilities are located in the region. The Eng. navigator Sir Francis Drake visited the bay in 1579; the Spanish explored it more fully in the late 18th cent.

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Compiler

Peter Richards