Table 1. Salinity values (ppt) recorded by various investigators for delta marshes 

 (from Wicker et al. 1982). 



Data not available. 



Salinity contours established by Dept. of Oceanography and Meteorology, Texas A.X M. 

 jj College, 1959. 

 Average minimum and maximum annual range of soil water salinity. 

 .Fruge (1980) pers. comm.; extrenes of recorded salinity range from 1963 sampling. 

 Water salinity range of vegetative types in hydrologic unit I. 



Table 2. Classification of coastal marshes of the Mississippi Delta, and area of marsh 

 in 1978 within each major hydrologic basin (Cowardin et al . 1979; Wicker 1980; Wicker et 

 al. 1980a, 1980b). 



Level of 



cl assification 



CI assification 



System/subsystem 

 Cl ass 

 Subclass 

 Modifiers 

 Tide 



Sal inity 

 (ppt) 



Marsh designation 

 Basin 



Salt 



Estuarine intertidal Pal us trine 



Emergent wetl and 



Persistent Persistent or nonpersistent 



Tidal Nontidal 



Irregularly exposed to Intennittently flooded to 



regularly or irregularly intermittently exposed 



flooded 



Polyhaline Mesohaline 01 igohal ine Fresh 



18-30 5-18 0.5 - 5 0.5 



Brackish and intermediate 



Fresh 



Total 



I Pontchartrain 



II Balize 



III Barataria 



IV Terrebonne 



V Atchafalaya 



VI Vermilion 



45,793 







19,388 



57,866 







2,541 



Total 



125,588 



389,268 



209,785 



724,641 



