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Place Name
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San Francisco Bay
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Place Status (Type)
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bay
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Location
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Marin County, California (CA), United States, North America
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Latitude
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unknown
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Longitude
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unknown
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San Francisco Bay
, W Calif.; entered through the Golden Gate, a
strait bet. San Francisco (S) and Marin (W) peninsulas; crossed by
Golden Gate Bridge; 50 mi/80 km long, from
3 mi/4.8 km-13 mi/21 km
wide. Bay's depth is up to 100 ft/30 m, with
a channel 50 ft/15 m 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. On those secondary bays and on Carquinez Strait,
which connects them, are the cities of Vallejo, Benicia, Martinez, and
Pittsburg. 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. Angel Isl. State Park in
N, ferry from Tiburon, Marin co.
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