I have named this significantly large landform after the populated place located just to its south, Melfa, VA. The bay is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, straddling US Rt 13 as it passes down the backbone of the lower Delmarva Peninsula. The bay conforms very well to the bayShore archetype shape, even though the rim is occasionally truncated where adjacent bays overlap, notably along the northern end.

The survey has identified almost 800 of similar crisply-defined basins on the Eastern Shore. The shape is certainly a bit different than the "Carolina Bay" seen further south on the coastal plain. The most obvious feature of the shape is the flattened rim on the southeastern side, creating a sort of "foot" as a distortion of the oval off to the north, at the southeastern end.

The LiDAR elevation map suggest there has been no significant attempt to drain the bay using artificial drainage channels. A small area at the southern rim has been ditched, and drains through the rim near Virginia Avenue. The passage of US 15 on a raised roadbed divides the bay in half, and likely provides drainage out both sides where the roadbed cross through the rim. The vast majority of the bay floor appears to be forested, but over the years, various sections have been harvested. Only small sections have been converted to open cropland.

Google Streetview imagery is available along US 13 as it crosses the bay floor, but no significant feature can be seen. You can browse across the bay interactively in Google Maps using the link: http://goo.gl/maps/cD3xZ

The Carolina Bay Survey [http://cintos.org/Survey] has identified and measured ~200 bays in Octant 150302.

• Index #: 150302_6295
• Location: 37.65697137373516,-75.73867628817474
• Major: 1.67 km . . . Minor: 1.31 km
• Eccentricity: 0.615
• Area: 172.82 hectares
• Bearing: 122.67º
• Elevation: 14.67 m
• Archetype: easternShore
• Effective Diameter: 1,483.377 m