Salt marsh

For inland salt marshes uninfluenced by seawater and tides, see Inland salt marsh. For the surname, see Saltmarsh (surname). For Gandhi's march, see Salt March.

A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal marsh, is a tidal wetland in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and sea that is regularly flooded by tides of seawater or brackish water. It is a unique marine coastal ecosystem dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes play a large role in the aquatic food web and the delivery of nutrients to coastal waters. They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection.

Salt marshes have historically been endangered by poorly implemented coastal management practices, with land reclaimed for human uses or polluted by upstream agriculture or other industrial coastal uses. Additionally, sea level rise caused by climate change is endangering other marshes, through erosion and submersion of otherwise tidal marshes. However, recent acknowledgment by both environmentalists and larger society for the importance of saltwater marshes for biodiversity, ecological productivity and other ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, have led to an increase in salt marsh restoration and management since the 1980s.

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