Swamp

The Swamp



Fundamentally, a swamp and marsh have seasonal variation of water levels, and do not have a peat base. Bogs and fens have a peat base. When vegetation dies, it will decay if bacteria can get to it. When water remains at constant levels, and is cold, the bacteria cannot get at the vegetation, so it does not completely decompose, and becomes peat. A bog begins as a lake, but the peat is acidic, and creates a nutrition-deficient environment. A fen has some mineral content, generally from surface run-off water, and therefore has somewhat different vegetation than the bog. Swamps and marshes, on the other hand, have a more nutrition-filled base, without the peat, since vegetative decomposition has occurred. The swamp is distinguished from the marsh mainly because it is forested with trees and shrubs. The marsh is dominated by plants in shallow water. A marsh can grow into a swamp as appropriate plants and trees take root there, just as a field can again become a forest. These images are from the Great Swamp in New Jersey.