Marshes form where water is very close to, or above, the ground surface for part or most of the year. This results in a waterlogged environment that stays soggy even if there are no pools of standing water. Marshes are either features in their own right, or zones along the margin of a lake or a river's edge. In intertidal areas along the coast, salt marshes sometimes occur. Surprisingly, these are enormously biologically productive.

What does it sound like?

  1. A marsh near Lake Ndutu, Tanzania

Earth Explorers

  • Monarch of the marsh

    One of the UK's most charistmatic raptors, the marsh harrier, can even do beige with style as Julian Hector discovers.

About Marsh

In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland which is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants. Woody plants will be low-growing shrubs. A marsh is different from a swamp, which has a greater proportion of open water surface and may be deeper than a marsh. In North America, the term "swamp" is used for wetland dominated by trees rather than grasses and low herbs.

The water of a marsh can be fresh (freshwater marsh), brackish (brackish marsh), or saline (salt marsh).

Coastal marshes may be associated with estuaries, and are also along waterways between coastal barrier islands and the inner coast. 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.

Marshes are critically important wildlife habitat, often serving as breeding grounds for a wide variety of animal life, particularly including ducks and geese.

Constructed wetlands featuring surface-flow design are usually in the form of a marsh.

Decomposition of plant materials below water often produces marsh gas, which may begin to burn by self-ignition making mysterious lights known locally as Will o' the wisps, Jack-o'-lanterns, or sprites.

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Other Freshwater Habitats

Ecozones where this habitat is found

Useful adaptations for this habitat

Where you find Marsh

Map showing the location of the Marsh habitat

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