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Wetlands Portal

Introduction

A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a number of roles in the environment, principally water purification, flood control, carbon sink and shoreline stability. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Wetlands occur naturally on every continent except Antarctica, the largest including the Amazon River basin, the West Siberian Plain, and the Pantanal in South America. The water found in wetlands can be freshwater, brackish, or saltwater. The main wetland types include swamps, marshes, bogs, and fens; and sub-types include mangrove, carr, pocosin, and varzea.

The UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment determined that environmental degradation is more prominent within wetland systems than any other ecosystem on Earth. International conservation efforts are being used in conjunction with the development of rapid assessment tools to inform people about wetland issues.

Constructed wetlands can be used to treat municipal and industrial wastewater as well as stormwater runoff and they also play a role in water-sensitive urban design.

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Kettle (round glacial eye-shaped lake), highlands of Isunngua, Greenland.

A kettle (kettle hole, pothole) is a shallow, sediment-filled body of water formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of ice calving from glaciers and becoming submerged in the sediment on the outwash plain. Another source is the sudden drainage of an ice-dammed lake. When the block melts, the hole it leaves behind is a kettle. As the ice melts, ramparts can form around the edge of the kettle hole. The lakes that fill these holes are seldom more than 10 m (33 ft) and eventually become filled with sediment. In acid conditions, a kettle bog may form but in alkaline conditions, it will be kettle peatland.

Kettles are fluvioglacial landforms occurring as the result of blocks of ice calving from the front of a receding glacier and becoming partially to wholly buried by glacial outwash. Glacial outwash is generated when streams of meltwater flow away from the glacier and deposit sediment to form broad outwash plains called sandurs. When the ice blocks melt, kettle holes are left in the sandur. When the development of numerous kettle holes disrupt sandur surfaces, a jumbled array of ridges and mounds form, resembling kame and kettle topography.

Kettle holes can form as the result of floods caused by the sudden drainage of an ice-dammed lake. These floods, called jökulhlaups, often rapidly deposit large quantities of sediment onto the sandur surface. The kettle holes are formed by the melting blocks of sediment-rich ice that were transported and consequently buried by the jökulhlaups. It was found in field observations and laboratory simulations done by Maizels in 1992 that ramparts form around the edge of kettle holes generated by jökulhlaups. The development of distinct types of ramparts depends on the concentration of rock fragments contained in the melted ice block and on how deeply the block was buried by sediment. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various wetland-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Sphagnum with northern pitcher plants at Brown's Lake Bog, Ohio, US (from Bog)
Image 2Sphagnum moss and sedges can produce floating bog mats along the shores of small lakes. This bog in Duck Lake, Oregon, US, supports populations of English sundew (Drosera anglica). (from Bog)
Image 3Marsh Arabs poling a mashoof (from Swamp)
Image 4Blanket bog in Connemara, Ireland (from Bog)
Image 5The Linnaistensuo Mire, a nature reserve swamp in Lahti, Finland. (from Swamp)
Image 6Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here in the New Jersey Meadowlands at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S. (from Marsh)
Image 7Aerial view of prairie potholes (from Marsh)
Image 8Peat bog and peat to dry, L'Isle-aux-Coudres, Quebec, Canada, 1976 (from Bog)
Image 9A bog in Lauhanvuori National Park, Isojoki, Finland (from Bog)
Image 10Vernal pools are ponded only during the wetter part of the year. (from Marsh)
Image 11Snapping turtles are one of the many kinds of turtles found in wetlands. (from Wetland)
Image 12Swamp in southern Louisiana (from Swamp)
Image 13Dernford Fen, Cambridgeshire (from Fen)
Image 14Inside a mangrove canopy, Salt Pan Creek, New South Wales (from Swamp)
Image 15The Sitniki peat bog in Russia recultivated after industrial use (from Bog)
Image 16A wet meadow adjacent to Big Bear Lake, San Bernardino Mountains, California (from Marsh)
Image 17Kakerdaja Fen, Estonia (from Fen)
Image 18Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird. (from Marsh)
Image 19Sugar Fen, Norfolk (from Fen)
Image 20Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah (from Wetland)
Image 21An expanse of wet Sphagnum bog in Frontenac National Park, Quebec, Canada. Spruce trees can be seen on a forested ridge in the background. (from Bog)
Image 22Wicken Fen, England. Grasses in the foreground are typical of a fen. (from Fen)
Image 23Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore (from Marsh)
Image 24A salt marsh in Scotland (from Marsh)
Image 25A small swamp in Padstow, New South Wales, Australia (from Swamp)
Image 26Avaste Fen, Estonia. Sedges dominate the landscape, woody shrubs and trees are sparse. (from Fen)
Image 27Tourbière du Lac-à-la-Tortue (fr), ombrotrophic, Quebec, Canada (from Bog)
Image 28A bog in Ostfriesland (from Bog)
Image 29Carnivorous plants, such as this Sarracenia purpurea pitcher plant of the eastern seaboard of North America, are often found in bogs. Capturing insects provides nitrogen and phosphorus, which are usually scarce in such conditions. (from Bog)
Image 30Bog with October morning mist in Mukri, Estonia (from Bog)
Image 31Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. (from Wetland)
Image 32A raised bog in Ķemeri National Park, Jūrmala, Latvia, formed approximately 10,000 years ago in the postglacial period and now a tourist attraction. (from Bog)
Image 33A marsh in Jyväskylä, Finland (from Marsh)
Image 34White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. (from Marsh)
Image 35A freshwater swamp in Florida, United States (from Swamp)
Image 36Bud of water lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), an aquatic plant. (from Wetland)
Image 37Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia (from Wetland)
Image 38Viru Bog in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia, which is rich in raised bogs (from Bog)
Image 39Difference between swamp and marsh (from Swamp)
Image 40Aerial image of Carbajal Valley peat bogs, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina (from Bog)
Image 41A black alder swamp in Germany (from Swamp)
Image 42Pantanal in Brazil (from Swamp)
Image 43Small extreme rich fen in southwestern Minnesota. The white flowers, Parnassia glauca, are a fen indicator species in Minnesota. (from Fen)
Image 44Fog rising over the Mukri bog near Mukri, Estonia. The bog has an area of 2,147 hectares (5,310 acres) and has been protected since 1992. (from Wetland)
Image 45Many species of evergreen shrub are found in bogs, such as Labrador tea. (from Bog)
Image 46Humid wetland in Pennsylvania before a rain. (from Wetland)
Image 47Bog-wood and boulders at the Stumpy Knowe near South Auchenmade, Ayrshire, Scotland (from Bog)
Image 48Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts, United States, in February (from Wetland)
Image 49Many species of frogs live in wetlands, while others visit them each year to lay eggs. (from Wetland)
Image 50Spaulding Fen, Wisconsin. (from Fen)
Image 51Precipitation accumulates in many bogs, forming bog pools, such as Koitjärve bog in Estonia. (from Bog)
Image 52The wetlands of Cape May, New Jersey, U.S. comprise an extensive hydrological network that makes them an ornithologically important location to study the many birds which use the preserve as a place to nest. (from Wetland)

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Wetland

Credit: User:Abrget47j

Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia.

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Did you know...

that in Greek mythology, Naiads were nymphs who presided over lakes?

... that in mythology, Naiads were nymphs who presided over lakes?

(Pictured left: A Naiad.)

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River morphology
Large-scale features	Alluvial plain Drainage basin Drainage system (geomorphology) Estuary Strahler number (stream order) River valley River delta River sinuosity
Alluvial rivers	Anabranch Avulsion (river) Bar (river morphology) Braided river Channel pattern Cut bank Floodplain Meander Meander cutoff Mouth bar Oxbow lake Point bar Riffle Rapids Riparian zone River bifurcation River channel migration River mouth Slip-off slope Stream pool Thalweg
Bedrock river	Canyon Knickpoint Plunge pool
Bedforms	Ait Antidune Dune Current ripple
Regional processes	Aggradation Base level Degradation (geology) Erosion and tectonics River rejuvenation
Mechanics	Deposition (geology) Water erosion Exner equation Hack's law Helicoidal flow Playfair's law Sediment transport List of rivers that have reversed direction
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