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STS085-508-024 Delaware River, Pine Barrens, New Jersey August 1997
The Delaware River, the central New Jersey Coast, and the Pine Barrens are all visible in this north-northeast-looking low-oblique view. The Delaware River, 280 miles (450 km) long, rises in the Catskill Mountains of New York, enters the scene just above the left center of the image and flows generally southeastward passing Trenton, before turning southwestward. The river is most apparent as it passes Trenton and then exits the scene at the bottom left of the image. The large forested area covering much of the right half of the image is the Pine Barrens area of south-central New Jersey. A vast forest of pine, oak, and cedar on the outer coastal-plain, the Pine Barrens cover an area of 3000 sq. miles (7700 sq. km), and is the largest tract of open space on the mid-Atlantic Coast in what is the most urbanized state in the United States. The area is characterized by gently rolling terrain and sandy soils, swamp-edged streams, and tracts of cranberries and blueberries. Most of the Pine Barrens lies within a national reserve administered by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission.
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