REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1903 



21 



Classification of swamps 



Marine marshes 



Fresh- water swamps < 



Above mean tide 



Below mean tide 



River swamps 

 Lake swamps 



Upland swamps 

 Ablation swamps 



( Grass marshes 

 ( Mangrove marshes 



SMud banks 

 Eel grass areas 



TeT'race 



Estuarine 

 ( Lake margins 

 ( Quaking bogs 

 ( Wet woods 

 ( Climbing bogs 



Description of swamps 



The distinction made by Shaler between the terms marsh and 

 swamp, confining the former to marine formations and the latter 

 to fresh-water deposits, is one which might be carried still farther 

 to distinguish between bog, mire, morass etc. It seems to be the 

 general impression that all these wet lands are areas of soft, 

 black mud and slime overgrown to a certain extent with marsh 

 grasses and cat-tails, which form a mire that is absolutely im- 

 passable, whereas most fresh-water swamps have a floor of moss 

 or interlaced roots and fallen trees which make a perfectly safe 

 foothold for the person who may attempt to cross. 



In New York State examples of all the above mentioned classes 

 of swamps are to be found with the exception of the mangrove 

 marshes. As a rule, only the fresh-water swamps of the State 

 are of any importance as sources of peat, though the value of the 

 salt maTshes, if reclaimed, would be very great as farm or garden 

 lands. 



Marine marshes. The four classes of marine marshes, though 

 entirely distinct, are not as widely separated as appears at first ; 

 they are in fact separate steps in the same process. For a 

 strictly logical classification the arrangement would be, (1) eel 



