About
Near Saint John, New Brunswick a number of water bodies converge. From Evandale, the Saint John River flows through a long straight channel known as Long Reach before making a nearly 90 degree turn near Westfield. Through Long Reach water depths are generally 10-25m deep, although in a few of the deeper channels depths reach up to 40m. After the river’s sharp bend near Westfield it flows into a broad, shallow bay called Grand Bay where it is joined by its large tributary, the Kennebecasis River. The Kennebecasis River is a fjord, complete with moderately deep regions of up to 70m, and a broad glacial sill at its mouth. At this sill the water depth abruptly rises from approximately 30m to less than 5m. Many channels, scoured by the fast moving currents, can be seen across the sill. From Grand Bay, the channel constricts significantly, flowing through a narrow gorge and over the Reversing Falls. In this gorge, the violent currents have stripped away much of the sediments leaving behind a ragged and rocky bottom. At the Reversing Falls, the high flow levels from the Saint John River meet the world’s highest tides in the Bay of Fundy leading to a series of rapids that reverse direction as the tides rise and fall. Below the Reversing Falls is Saint John Harbour, New Brunswick’s largest port. Due to the heavy sedimentation rates in the port, dredging is an ongoing operation to maintain navigational safety in the channels and berths. The Ocean Mapping Group has been involved with performing multibeam surveys of a large area of the Lower Saint John River and Saint John Harbour since the late 1990s. This data has been compiled, cleaned, and processed, and can be viewed and downloaded using the map below. Users are encouraged to read the instructions by clicking on the button in the lower right corner for an overview of the application features.