Marsh
In geography, a marsh is a type of wetland. It has grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants (possibly with low-growing woody plants) in a context of shallow water. A marsh is different from a swamp, which has a greater proportion of open water surface, which is generally deeper than a marsh. In the US, the term 'swamp' is used for wetland dominated by trees rather than grasses and low herbs.
The water of a marsh can be fresh, brackish or saline. Coastal marshes may be associated with estuaries and along waterways between coastal barrier islands and the inner coast. Estuarine marshes often are based on soils consisting of sandy bottoms or bay muds.
Marshes are critically important wildlife habitat, often serving as breeding grounds for a wide variety of animal life.
Marsh Media
Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here in the New Jersey Meadowlands at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S.
Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore
White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water.
Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird.
This photograph was taken with an Olympus E-PL1
A salt marsh in Scotland
A wet meadow adjacent to Big Bear Lake, San Bernardino Mountains, California
Vernal pools are ponded only during the wetter part of the year.
Aerial view of prairie potholes
