Tidal marsh

Salt tidal marsh at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Wells, Maine

A tidal marsh is a type of marsh that is found along coasts and estuaries of which the flooding characteristics are determined by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean.^[1] According to the salinity of the flooding water, freshwater, brackish and saline tidal marshes are distinguished. Respectively, they may be classified into coastal marshes and estuarine marshes.

They are also commonly zoned into lower marshes (also called intertidal marshes) and upper or high marshes, based on their elevation with respect to the sea level.^[1][2]

In addition they may also be classified into back-barrier marshes, estuarine brackish marshes and tidal freshwater marshes, according to the degree of the influence of the sea level.^[2]

Island and Barrier Island

Tidal Marshes can contain island off their shore called barrier islands. These cigar shaped islands form parallel and close to the shoreline of a tidal marsh.^[3] The islands fully exposed during low tide look like a hill, and during a high tide being fully surrounded by water look like an island. Formation of barrier islands have been explained in many ways by history’s scientific minds, some mechanisms of barrier island formation are offshore bar theory, spit accretion theory, and formation can even be due to climate change.^[4][5] Contrary to what one might think the presence of saline resistant plants does not affect the erosion rates of tidal marsh islands, rather the contributing factor to erosion rates is the soil type of the island.^[6]

See also

• Salt marsh
• Brackish marsh

References

Coastal geography
Landforms	Anchialine pool Archipelago Atoll Avulsion Ayre Barrier island Bay Baymouth bar Bight Bodden Brackish marsh Cape Channel Cliff Coast Coastal plain Coastal waterfall Continental margin Continental shelf Coral reef Cove Dune cliff-top Estuary Firth Fjard Fjord Freshwater marsh Fundus Gat Geo Gulf Gut Headland Inlet Intertidal wetland Island Islet Isthmus Lagoon Machair Marine terrace Mega delta Mouth bar Mudflat Natural arch Peninsula Reef Regressive delta Ria River delta Salt marsh Shoal Shore Skerry Sound Spit Stack Strait Strand plain Submarine canyon Tidal island Tidal marsh Tide pool Tied island Tombolo Windwatt
Beaches	Beach cusps Beach evolution Coastal morphodynamics Beach ridge Beachrock Pocket beach Raised beach Recession Shell beach Shingle beach Storm beach Wash margin
Processes	Blowhole Cliffed coast Coastal biogeomorphology Coastal erosion Concordant coastline Current Cuspate foreland Discordant coastline Emergent coastline Feeder bluff Fetch Flat coast Graded shoreline Headlands and bays Ingression coast Large-scale coastal behaviour Longshore drift Marine regression Marine transgression Raised shoreline Rip current Rocky shore Sea cave Sea foam Shoal Steep coast Submergent coastline Surf break Surf zone Surge channel Swash Undertow Volcanic arc Wave-cut platform Wave shoaling Wind wave Wrack zone
Management	Accretion Coastal management Integrated coastal zone management Submersion
Related	Bulkhead line Grain size boulder clay cobble granule pebble sand shingle silt Intertidal zone Littoral zone Physical oceanography Region of freshwater influence
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