state three characteristics of a marsh?

Tayo400

6 years ago

Characteristics
Marshes are generally characterized by very slow-moving waters. They are usually associated with adjacent rivers, lakes, or oceans.

Typically, a marsh features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants (possibly with low-growing woody plants) in a context of shallow water. Saline tidal marshes that are covered and exposed daily by the tide may be covered by the tall form of smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), while areas covered by water only sporadically may be populated by short smooth cordgrass, spike grass, and black grass (Juncus gerardii) (EPA 2004). Non-tidal marshes may feature lily pads, cattails, reeds, and bulrushes, and such waterfowl and small mammals as great blue herons, otters, muskrats, and red-winged blackbirds (EPA 2004).

A coastal salt marsh may be associated with estuaries and along waterways between coastal barrier islands and the inner coast. The plants may extend from reed in mildly brackish water to salicornia on otherwise bare marine mud. It may be converted to human use as pasture (salting) or for salt production (saltern). The estuarine marsh, or tidal marsh, is often based on soils consisting of sandy bottoms or bay muds. An example is the Tantramar Marsh of eastern Canada.

Below water decomposition processes often produce marsh gas, which may through self-ignition manifest as Will o' the wisps (aka. Jack-a-lanterns or spirites).

markvicky

6 years ago

Characteristics
Marshes are generally characterized by very slow-moving waters. They are usually associated with adjacent rivers, lakes, or oceans.

Typically, a marsh features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants (possibly with low-growing woody plants) in a context of shallow water. Saline tidal marshes that are covered and exposed daily by the tide may be covered by the tall form of smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), while areas covered by water only sporadically may be populated by short smooth cordgrass, spike grass, and black grass (Juncus gerardii) (EPA 2004). Non-tidal marshes may feature lily pads, cattails, reeds, and bulrushes, and such waterfowl and small mammals as great blue herons, otters, muskrats, and red-winged blackbirds (EPA 2004).

A coastal salt marsh may be associated with estuaries and along waterways between coastal barrier islands and the inner coast. The plants may extend from reed in mildly brackish water to salicornia on otherwise bare marine mud. It may be converted to human use as pasture (salting) or for salt production (saltern). The estuarine marsh, or tidal marsh, is often based on soils consisting of sandy bottoms or bay muds. An example is the Tantramar Marsh of eastern Canada.

Below water decomposition processes often produce marsh gas, which may through self-ignition manifest as Will o' the wisps (aka. Jack-a-lanterns or spirites).

Importance
Marshes are vital wildlife habitats, often serving as breeding grounds for a wide variety of animal life. Freshwater marshes are one of the most productive ecosystems on earth and sustain a diversity of flora and fauna that is out of proportion with its size (EPA 2006). Salt marshes rival tropical rain forests in productivity.

Marshes also recharge groundwater supplies, moderate stream flow by providing water to streams (very important in cases of drought), mitigate flooding by slowing and storing flood water, and help in purifying the water via removal of sediments and other pollutants (via settling or microbial or plant removal of nutrients and heavy metals) (EPA 2006). Indeed, the ability of marshes to clean polluted waters has led to people now creating marshes to treat agricultural, residential, and commercial wastewater. Tidal marshes slow erosion along the shoreline, buffer stormy seas, and remove pollutants before they enter oceans and estuaries (EPA 2006).

Loss of marshes has often been followed by severe flooding and nutrient deposition into bodies of water (EPA 2006).

wisdom83442

4 hours ago

characteristics of a marsh?