Somes Sound is a body of water running deep into Mount Desert Island

Mount Desert Island

Mount Desert Island , in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 6th largest island in the contiguous United States. Though it is often claimed to be the third largest island on the eastern seaboard of the United States, it is actually second...

, the main site of Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park is a National Park located in the U.S. state of Maine. It reserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast...

 in Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Its deepest point is approximately 175 foot, and it is over 100 feet (30.5 m) deep in several places. The sound almost splits the island in two. While often described as the "only fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

 on the East Coast

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...

", it lacks the extreme vertical relief and anoxic sediments associated with Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 fjords, and is now called a fjard

Fjard

A fjard, also spelled as “fiard,” is an inlet formed by the marine submergence of formerly glaciated valleys and depressions within a rocky glaciated terrain of low relief. Fjards are characterized by a profile that is shorter, shallower, and broader than the profile of a fjord...

 by officials — a smaller drowned glacial embayment.

Somes Sound was named for the settler Abraham Somes

Abraham Somes

Abraham Somes was the primary founder of English settlements on the scenic Mount Desert Island, which is now part of Acadia National Park in present-day Maine. In 1761, Somes, a cooper by trade, brought his wife and family from Gloucester, Massachusetts to the island, along with James...

.