Salt marsh
From Environmental Technology
Salt marshes are transitional areas between land and water, occurring along the intertidal shore of estuaries and sounds where salinity (salt content) ranges from near ocean strength to near fresh in upriver marshes. South Carolina has more marsh acreage than any other Atlantic coast state (344,500 acres of salt marsh). Because salt marshes in South Carolina are influenced by the twice daily rise and fall of tides, they are subject to rapid changes in salinity, temperature and water depth.
Salinity, frequency and extent of flooding of the marsh determine the types of plants and animals found there. The low marsh zone floods twice daily in South Carolina, while the high marsh floods only during storms and unusually high tides. Animals and plants live in these zones of the marsh, depending on how well they can withstand the drier conditions of the upper marsh or the wet conditions that regularly occur in the lower marsh.
