A swamp is a forested
wetland.
[Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p.] Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in creating this environment.
Swamps vary in size and are located all around the world. The water of a swamp may be
fresh water
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
,
brackish water, or
seawater. Freshwater swamps form along large rivers or lakes where they are critically dependent upon rainwater and seasonal flooding to maintain natural water level fluctuations.
[Hughes, F.M.R. (ed.). 2003. The Flooded Forest: Guidance for policy makers and river managers in Europe on the restoration of floodplain forests. FLOBAR2, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. 96 p.] Saltwater swamps are found along tropical and subtropical coastlines.
Some swamps have
hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by
aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodic inundation or soil saturation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or
swamp forests and "transitional" or
shrub swamps. In the
boreal
Boreal may refer to:
Climatology and geography
*Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch
*Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...
regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more formally termed a
bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
,
fen, or
muskeg
Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or ...
. Some of the world's largest swamps are found along major rivers such as the
Amazon, the
Mississippi, and the
Congo
Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa:
* Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...
.
Differences between marshes and swamps
Swamps and
marshes are specific types of wetlands that form along waterbodies containing rich,
hydric soils. Marshes are wetlands, continually or frequently flooded by nearby running bodies of water, that are dominated by emergent soft-stem vegetation and herbaceous plants. Swamps are wetlands consisting of saturated soils or standing water and are dominated by water-tolerant woody vegetation such as shrubs, bushes, and trees.
[Mitsch, W.J., & Gosselink, J.G.(2015). ''Wetlands''. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.]
Hydrology
Swamps are characterized by their saturated soils and slow-moving waters.
The water that accumulates in swamps comes from a variety of sources including precipitation, groundwater, tides and/or freshwater flooding.
These hydrologic pathways all contribute to how energy and nutrients flow in and out of the ecosystem. As water flows through the swamp, nutrients, sediment and pollutants are naturally filtered out. Chemicals like phosphorus and nitrogen that end up in waterways get absorbed and used by the aquatic plants within the swamp, purifying the water. Any remaining or excess chemicals present will accumulate at the bottom of the swamp, being removed from the water and buried within the sediment.
The biogeochemical environment of a swamp is dependent on its hydrology, affecting the levels and availability of resources like oxygen, nutrients, water pH and toxicity, which will influence the whole ecosystem.
Values and ecosystem services
Swamps and other
wetlands
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
have traditionally held a very low
property value compared to fields,
prairies, or
woodlands. They have a reputation for being unproductive land that cannot easily be utilized for human activities, other than
hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
,
trapping, or fishing. Farmers, for example, typically drained swamps next to their fields so as to gain more land usable for planting crops, both historically, and to a lesser extent, presently. On the other hand, swamps can (and do) play a beneficial ecological role in the overall functions of the natural environment and provide a variety of resources that many species depend on. Swamps and other wetlands have shown to be a natural form of flood management and defense against flooding. In such circumstances where flooding does occur, swamps absorb and use the excess water within the wetland, preventing it from traveling and flooding surrounding areas.
Dense vegetation within the swamp also provides soil stability to the land, holding soils and sediment in place whilst preventing erosion and land loss. Swamps are an abundant and valuable source of
fresh water
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
and
oxygen for all life, and they are often breeding grounds for a wide variety of species. Floodplain swamps are an important resource in the production and distribution of fish. Two thirds of global fish and shellfish are commercially harvested and dependent on wetlands.
Impacts and conservation
Historically, humans have been known to drain and/or fill swamps and other wetlands in order to create more space for human development and to reduce the threat of diseases borne by swamp insects. Wetlands are removed and replaced with land that is then used for things like agriculture, real estate, and recreational uses. Many swamps have also undergone intensive logging and farming, requiring the construction of drainage ditches and canals. These ditches and canals contributed to drainage and, along the coast, allowed salt water to intrude, converting swamps to
marsh or even to open water.
Large areas of swamp were therefore lost or degraded.
Louisiana provides a classic example of wetland loss from these combined factors. Europe has probably lost nearly half its wetlands.
[Dugan, P. (ed.) 2005. Guide to Wetlands. Buffalo, New York. Firefly Books. 304 p.] New Zealand lost 90 percent of its wetlands over a period of 150 years. Ecologists recognize that swamps provide ecological services including flood control, fish production, water purification, carbon storage, and wildlife habitats.
In many parts of the world authorities protect swamps. In parts of Europe and North America, swamp restoration projects are becoming widespread.
The United States government began enforcing stricter laws and management programs in the 1970s in efforts to protect and restore these ecosystems.
Often the simplest steps to restoring swamps involve plugging drainage ditches and removing
levee
A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually soil, earthen and that often runs parallel (geometry), parallel to ...
s.
Conservationists work to preserve swamps such as those in northwest Indiana in the United States
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
that were preserved as part of the
Indiana Dunes.
Notable examples
Swamps can be found on all continents except
Antarctica.
The largest swamp in the world is the Amazon River floodplain, which is particularly significant for its large number of fish and tree species.
[L.H. Fraser and P.A. Keddy (eds.). 2005. The World's Largest Wetlands: Ecology and Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 488 p.]
Africa
The
Sudd
The Sudd (' or ', Dinka language, Dinka: Toc) is a vast swamp in South Sudan, formed by the White Nile's ''Mountain Nile, Baḥr al-Jabal'' section. The Arabic language, Arabic word ' is derived from ' (), meaning "barrier" or "obstruction". The ...
and the
Okavango Delta are Africa's best known marshland areas. The
Bangweulu Floodplains
Bangweulu — 'where the water sky meets the sky' — is one of the world's great wetland systems, comprising Lake Bangweulu, the Bangweulu Swamps and the Bangweulu Flats or floodplain.Camerapix: ''Spectrum Guide to Zambia.'' Camerapix Internation ...
make up Africa's largest swamp.
Asia
The
Mesopotamian Marshes
The Mesopotamian Marshes, also known as the Iraqi Marshes, are a wetland area located in Southern Iraq and in southwestern Iran. The marshes are primarily located on the floodplains of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers bound by the cities of Basra, ...
is a large swamp and river system in southern
Iraq, traditionally inhabited in part by the
Marsh Arabs
The Marsh Arabs ( ar, عرب الأهوار ''ʻArab al-Ahwār'' "Arabs of the Marshlands"), also referred to as the Maʻdān ( ar, معدان "dweller in the plains") or Shroog (Iraqi ar, شروق, "those from the east")—the latter two often ...
.
In Asia, tropical peat swamps are located in mainland East Asia and Southeast Asia. In Southeast Asia, peatlands are mainly found in low altitude coastal and sub-coastal areas and extend inland for distance more than along river valleys and across watersheds. They are mostly to be found on the coasts of East Sumatra, Kalimantan (Central, East, South and West Kalimantan provinces), West Papua, Papua New Guinea, Brunei, Peninsular Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, Southeast Thailand, and the Philippines (Riley ''et al.'',1996). Indonesia has the largest area of tropical peatland. Of the total tropical peat swamp, about are located in Indonesia (Page, 2001; Wahyunto, 2006).
The
Vasyugan Swamp is a large swamp in the western
Siberia area of the
Russian Federation. This is one of the largest swamps in the world, covering an area larger than
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
.
North America
The
Atchafalaya Swamp
The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp (; Louisiana French: ''L'Atchafalaya'', ), is the largest wetland and swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the Atc ...
at the lower end of the Mississippi River is the largest swamp in the
United States. It is an important example of southern cypress swamp but it has been greatly altered by logging, drainage and levee construction. Other famous swamps in the United States are the forested portions of the
Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
,
Okefenokee Swamp,
Barley Barber Swamp
The Barley Barber Swamp, once a vast Taxodium distichum, Bald Cypress forest and waterway in the Greater Everglades watershed, is a parcel of land surrounded by Florida Power & Light's (FPL) Martin County, Florida, Martin County power plant. The ...
,
Great Cypress Swamp
The Great Cypress Swamp (also known as ''Great Pocomoke Swamp'', ''Cypress Swamp'', or ''Big Cypress Swamp''), is a forested freshwater swamp located on the Delmarva Peninsula in south Delaware and southeastern Maryland. As of 2000, it is the larg ...
and the
Great Dismal Swamp. The Okefenokee is located in extreme southeastern
Georgia and extends slightly into northeastern
Florida. The
Great Cypress Swamp
The Great Cypress Swamp (also known as ''Great Pocomoke Swamp'', ''Cypress Swamp'', or ''Big Cypress Swamp''), is a forested freshwater swamp located on the Delmarva Peninsula in south Delaware and southeastern Maryland. As of 2000, it is the larg ...
is mostly in
Delaware but extends into
Maryland on the
Delmarva Peninsula.
Point Lookout State Park on the southern tip of Maryland contains a large amount of swamps and marshes. The
Great Dismal Swamp lies in extreme southeastern
Virginia and extreme northeastern
North Carolina. Both are
National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to c ...
s. Another swamp area,
Reelfoot Lake of extreme western
Tennessee and
Kentucky, was created by the
1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes.
Caddo Lake, the Great Dismal and Reelfoot are swamps that are centered at large lakes. Swamps are often associated with ''
bayou
In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...
s'' in the
southeastern United States, especially in the
Gulf Coast region. A
baygall
A bayhead or baygall is a specific type of wetland or swamp habitat.Watson, Geraldine Ellis (2006) Big Thicket Plant Ecology: An Introduction, Third Edition (Temple Big Thicket Series #5). University of North Texas Press. 152 pp. Natural Communi ...
is a type of swamp found in the forest of the Gulf Coast states in the USA.
[Watson, Geraldine Ellis (2006) Big Thicket Plant Ecology: An Introduction, Third Edition (Temple Big Thicket Series #5). University of North Texas Press. Denton, Texas. 152 pp. ][Natural Communities of Louisiana]
Bayhead Swamp/Forested Seep
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Retrieved 7 July 2020.[Texas Parks and Wildlife. Ecological Mapping systems of Texas]
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall
Retrieved 7 July 2020
List of major swamps
The world's largest wetlands include significant areas of swamp, such as in the Amazon and Congo River basins.
Further north, however, the largest wetlands are
bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
s.
Africa
*
Bangweulu Swamps
The Bangweulu Wetlands is a wetland ecosystem adjacent to Lake Bangweulu in north-eastern Zambia. The area has been designated as one of the world's most important wetlands by the Ramsar Convention and an "Important Bird Area" by BirdLife Internati ...
,
Zambia
*
Mare aux Songes,
Mauritius*
*
Niger Delta,
Nigeria
*
Okavango Swamp
The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Grassland; formerly spelled "Okovango" or "Okovanggo") in Botswana is a swampy inland delta formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough at an altitude of 930–1,000 m in the central part of the en ...
,
Botswana
*
Sudd
The Sudd (' or ', Dinka language, Dinka: Toc) is a vast swamp in South Sudan, formed by the White Nile's ''Mountain Nile, Baḥr al-Jabal'' section. The Arabic language, Arabic word ' is derived from ' (), meaning "barrier" or "obstruction". The ...
,
South Sudan
Asia
*
Asmat Swamp,
Indonesia
* Candaba Swamp in
Apalit
Apalit, officially the Municipality of Apalit ( pam, Balen ning Apalit; tl, Bayan ng Apalit), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 117,160 people.
The town is ...
and
Candaba,
Pampanga and
Pulilan, Bulacan, Philippines
*
Mangrove Swamp
Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fre ...
in
Karachi,
Pakistan
*
Myristica Swamp
''Myristica'' swamps are a type of freshwater swamp forest predominantly composed of species of ''Myristica''. These are found in three localities in India. ''Myristica'' swamps have adapted to inundation by way of stilt roots and knee roots. ''M ...
in
Western Ghats,
India
*
Ratargul Swamp Forest
Ratargul Swamp Forest is a freshwater swamp forest located in Gowain River, Fatehpur Union, Gowainghat, Sylhet, Bangladesh. Ratargul was once thought to be the only swamp forest in Bangladesh, and one of the few freshwater swamp forests in the ...
in
Sylhet
Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...
,
Bangladesh
*
Sundarbans in
India and
Bangladesh
*
Vasyugan Swamp,
Russia
*
Negombo Swamp
Negombo (, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province, from Colombo via Colombo - Katunayake Expressway.
Negombo is one of the major commer ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
Australia
* Coomonderry Swamp
[Price, C., & Kelly, A. (2011). ''National Wetlands Update 2011'' (No. 19; Annual Update for Australia’s Wetland Community, p. 56). Australian Government. https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/766781bf-a9d9-4c04-8a96-77bccd2e0426/files/wa-19.pdf]
*
Coastal Swamp Oak Forest
Coastal Swamp Oak Forests, also known as Swamp Oak Floodplain Forests and Estuarine swamp oak forests, are scattered riparian forests found in southeastern Queensland to southeastern New South Wales, Australia that would predominantly feature Casu ...
Europe
*
Pripyat Marshes
__NOTOC__
The Pinsk Marshes ( be, Пінскія балоты, ''Pinskiya baloty''), also known as the Pripet Marshes ( be, Прыпяцкія балоты, ''Prypiackija baloty''), the Polesie Marshes, and the Rokitno Marshes, are a vast natural ...
,
Belarus
*
Šúr
Šúr is a national nature reserve in the Slovak municipalities of Svätý Jur and Chorvátsky Grob in the Pezinok District. The nature reserve covers an area of 655 ha and has a protective belt of 145 ha. It has a protection level of 3, 4 a ...
,
Slovakia
*
North America
*
Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge
The Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge is located about west of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and one mile (1.6 km) east of Krotz Springs, Louisiana, lies just east of the Atchafalaya River. In 1988 under the administration of Governor Foster th ...
, Louisiana, United States
*
Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida, United States
*
Barley Barber Swamp
The Barley Barber Swamp, once a vast Taxodium distichum, Bald Cypress forest and waterway in the Greater Everglades watershed, is a parcel of land surrounded by Florida Power & Light's (FPL) Martin County, Florida, Martin County power plant. The ...
, Florida, United States
*
Cache River, Illinois, United States
*
Caddo Lake, Texas/Louisiana, United States
*
Cibuco Swamp, Puerto Rico
*
Congaree Swamp, South Carolina, United States
*
Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
, Florida, United States
*
First Landing State Park
First Landing State Park (formerly Seashore State Park) offers recreational opportunities at Cape Henry in the independent city of Virginia Beach, Virginia. As the first planned state park of Virginia, First Landing is listed on the National Re ...
, Virginia, United States
*
Grand Kankakee Marsh
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
* Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist
* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
* Grand, Vosges, village and comm ...
, Indiana, United States
*
Great Black Swamp, Indiana/Ohio, United States
*
Great Cypress Swamp
The Great Cypress Swamp (also known as ''Great Pocomoke Swamp'', ''Cypress Swamp'', or ''Big Cypress Swamp''), is a forested freshwater swamp located on the Delmarva Peninsula in south Delaware and southeastern Maryland. As of 2000, it is the larg ...
, Delaware and Maryland, United States, also known as Great Pocomoke Swamp
*
Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina/Virginia, United States
*
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is located in Morris County, New Jersey. Established in 1960, it now is among what has grown to be more than 550 refuges in the United States National Wildlife Refuge System.
The initial portion of the ...
, New Jersey, United States
*
Green Swamp, Florida, United States
*
Green Swamp, North Carolina, United States
*
Honey Island Swamp, Louisiana, United States
*
Hudson Bay Lowlands
The Hudson Bay Lowlands is a vast wetland located between the Canadian Shield and southern shores of Hudson Bay and James Bay. Most of the area lies within the province of Ontario, with smaller portions reaching into Manitoba and Quebec. Many wide ...
, Ontario, Canada
*
Limberlost
The Limberlost Swamp in the eastern part of the present-day U.S. state of Indiana was a large, nationally known wetlands region with streams that flowed into the Wabash River. It originally covered 13,000 acres (53 km²) of present-day Adam ...
, Indiana, United States
*
Louisiana swamplands, Louisiana, United States
*
Mingo National Wildlife Refuge
The Mingo National Wildlife Refuge is a 21,676-acre (87.7-km2) National Wildlife Refuge located in northwestern Stoddard and southeastern Wayne counties in Missouri. Its southwesternmost portion lies on the shores of Lake Wappapello. Named afte ...
, Puxico, Missouri, United States
*
Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia/Florida, United States
*
Pantanos de Centla, Tabasco/Campeche, Mexico
*
Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee/Kentucky, United States
*
Texas Swamplands, Texas, United States
*
Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica
*
Washington D.C., District of Colombia, United States
South America
*
Caribbean Lowlands
The Caribbean Lowlands are a plains region along eastern areas of Central American nations. The area is usually between mountain ranges and the coastlines of the Caribbean Sea.
Geography
The lowlands are mainly between the major American Cordille ...
,
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
*
Esteros del Iberá Esteros may refer to:
* Esteros (film), 2016 film
* Esteros, Tamaulipas, town in Mexico
{{disamb ...
,
Argentina
*
Lahuen Ñadi,
Chile
*
Pantanal,
Brazil,
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
and
Paraguay
*
Paraná Delta,
Argentina
See also
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Flooded grasslands and savannas
Terrestrial ecoregions
Fluvial landforms
Pedology
Wetlands
Forest ecology
Bodies of water
Lacustrine landforms