Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Brackish marshes develop from salt marshes where a significant freshwater influx dilutes the seawater to brackish levels of salinity. This commonly happens upstream from salt marshes by estuaries of coastal rivers or near the mouths of coastal rivers with heavy freshwater discharges in the conditions of low tidal ranges .
Salt marsh during low tide, mean low tide, high tide and very high tide (spring tide). A coastal salt marsh in Perry, Florida, USA.. A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides.
An inland salt marsh is a saltwater marsh located away from the coast. It is formed and maintained in areas when evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation and/or when sodium- and chloride-laden groundwater is released from natural brine aquifers. Its vegetation is dominated by halophytic plant communities. [1]
A salt marsh. A halosere is an ecological succession in saline water environments. An example of a halosere is a salt marsh. [1] In a river estuary, large amounts of silt are deposited by the ebbing tides, as well as inflowing rivers.
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, [1] [2] is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuaries, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers. The word comes from the Middle Dutch root brak.
Coastal development, such as roads and houses, prevents salt marshes from migrating inland away from the coast as sea level rises. [10] In the past, salt marshes have migrated inland as a response to sea level from glaciation. [10] Land directly above marshes is slowly converted to high marsh due to increased salt water inundation due to SLR.
Salt marsh showing salt pannes and ponds, spartina alternifolia and invasive phragmites communis in foreground. Brackish marsh panne variants occur in brackish marshes (short graminoid variant), one of the native dominant species is spike grass (Distichlis spicata), some brackish marsh pannes are dominated by the narrow-leaved cattail (Typha angustifolia) an invasive exotic species.
Salt marshes filter pollution from the water and provide food and shelter for numerous species of birds, fish, mammals, and shellfish. Given the wildlife productivity and habitat diversity in this area, Scarborough Marsh is considered by the state of Maine as the most significant of Maine's coastal Focus Areas. [4]