Wetlands

1
Wetlands

• An area of land that has a shallow layer of water
  during some or all of the year
• Form in places where water is trapped in low
  areas or where groundwater seeps onto the surface
  of land
• Marshes, swamps, bogs

2
Marshes

• Grassy areas covered by a shallow layer or stream
  of water

3
Swamps

• More like a flooded forest
• Trees and shrubs growing in water

4
Bogs

• Form in depressions left by melting ice sheets
  thousands of years ago
• Water is usually acidic
• Lots of mosses thrive in bog conditions

5
Wetland Habitats

• Sheltered waters
• Provide rich supply of nutrients
• Provide habitats for many living things

6
Importance of Wetlands

• Help control floods by absorbing extra runoff
  from heavy rains
• Giant sponges
• Store water and gradually release it as it drains
  or evaporates

7
Everglades

• Florida
• Diverse life
• Many endangered species
• Nesting area
• Threats new chemicals being added by nearby
  farms, building of new homes and roads, new
  organisms being brought in to help with pest
  control
• Preserving Refill some drained areas, manage
  supply of water

8
Glaciers

• A huge mass of ice and snow that moves slowly
  over the land
• Form in cold places where more snwo falls than
  melts
• The weight of the layers presses the particles of
  snow so tightly together that they form a solid
  block of ice

9
Continental Glaciers

• Ice sheets that spread over a large area of land
• Only in Antarctica and Greenland
• Most are valley glaciersform in mountains, thick
  rivers of solid ice sliding down into the valley

10
Icebergs

• 10,000 new icebergs form every year in the North
  Atlantic and Arctic Oceans
• 90 of an iceberg lies below the surface. The
  underwater part is a hazard to ships because it
  is often much wider than the visible part of the
  iceberg

11
Water Underground

• Underground Layers water underground trickles
  down between particles of soil and through cracks
  and spaces in layers of rock.
• Pores different-sized spaces between their
  particles

12
Water Underground

• Impermeable materials that water cannot pass
  through
• Permeable materials that allow water to easily
  pass through
• Saturated Zone area of permeable rock or soil
  that is totally filled with water
• Water Table top of the saturated zone
• Unsaturated zone layer of rocks and soil above
  the water table

13
Aquifers

• Any underground layer of rock or sediment that
  holds water
• Can range in size from a small underground patch
  of permeable material to an area the size of
  several states

14
Bringing Groundwater to the Surface

• Wells people can obtain groundwater from an
  aquifer by drilling a well below the water table
• Artesian Well a well in which water rises
  because of pressure within the aquifer

15
Springs and Geysers

• Spring Yellowstone (National Park)places where
  groundwater bubbles or flows out of cracks in the
  rock
• Geysers type of hot spring from which the water
  bursts periodically into the air (Old Faithful
  Yellowstone National Park)