Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. [1] [2] It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. [2] The unique water chemistry of fens is a result of the ground or surface water input.
All mires are initially fens when the peat starts to form, and may turn into bogs once the height of the peat layer reaches above the surrounding land. A quagmire or is a floating (quaking) mire, bog, or any peatland being in a stage of hydrosere or hydrarch (hydroseral) succession, resulting in pond-filling yields underfoot (floating mats).
There are two types of mire – fens and bogs. A bog is a domed-shaped land form, is higher than the surrounding landscape, and obtains most of its water from rainfall (i.e., is ombrotrophic) while a fen is located on a slope, flat, or depression and gets its water from both rainfall and surface water.
The bog continues to form peat, and over time a shallow dome of bog peat develops into a raised bog. The dome is typically a few meters high in the center and is often surrounded by strips of fen or other wetland vegetation at the edges or along streamsides where groundwater can percolate into the wetland.
There are four main kinds of wetlands – marsh, swamp, bog, and fen (bogs and fens being types of peatlands or mires). Some experts also recognize wet meadows and aquatic ecosystems as additional wetland types. [1] Sub-types include mangrove forests, carrs, pocosins, floodplains, [1] peatlands, vernal pools, sinks, and many others. [22]
The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp forests and "transitional" or shrub swamps. In the boreal regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more formally termed a bog, fen, or muskeg. Some of the world's largest swamps are found along major rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi, and the Congo. [6]
Wetlands within this category include inland marshes and swamps as well as bogs, fens, pocosins, tundra and floodplains. According to the Cowardin classification system, palustrine wetlands can also be considered the area on the side of a river or a lake, as long as they are covered by vegetation such as trees, shrubs, and emergent plants. [1]
Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or peatland, and is a standard term in Canada and Alaska. The term became common in these areas because it is of Cree origin; maskek ( ᒪᐢᑫᐠ ) meaning "low-lying marsh".