on the south with
Newark Bay on the north The
channel is approximately long and connects
Raritan Bay on its south end with
Newark Bay on the north. Along the
New Jersey side it is primarily lined with industrial sites, part of which is called the
Chemical Coast. The
Staten Island side is primarily lined with
salt marshes and is home to the
Staten Island boat graveyard. It creates a border for
Fresh Kills Landfill and
Freshkills Park.
Course , in the background and small creek in foreground Arthur Kill is an abandoned river channel carved by an ancestral phase of the Hudson River resulting from the blockage of the main channel of the Hudson at
the Narrows by
moraine or an
ice dam. The size of Arthur Kill channel is large, suggesting that it was, for a time, the primary drainage from the region. However, it could not have been primary drainage for long because the river did not have enough time to carve a broad flood plain. Because of the complex nature of the tides in
New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary near the mouth of the
Hudson River, the
hydrology of Arthur Kill is still an open subject. In particular, the net flow of the channel is not well established. It was heavily polluted in the 1960s and 1970s, with few fish species able to live in it. Since the 1990s, crabs, baitfish, striped bass, and bluefish have returned to this water.
Tributaries and islands Arthur Kill contains two small uninhabited islands,
Prall's Island and the
Isle of Meadows, both of which are part of the
borough of Staten Island.
John's Cove is located near its northern end in New Jersey. On the New Jersey side, the
Elizabeth River,
Rahway River,
Morses Creek, and
Piles Creek flow into the kill. The
Passaic River and
Hackensack River mouth at Newark Bay. On the Staten Island side, Old Place Creek,
Fresh Kills (an estuary fed by the Richmond Creek and Main Creek), Bridge Creek (off Goethal Pond), and Sawmill Creek flow into the estuary. ==Shipping==