A Little Info About Georgia's Salt Marshes:

Salt Marshes

Posted in Marshes, Coastal Habitats

Georgia’s coastal marshlands encompass approximately 378,000 acres in a four to six mile band behind the barrier islands. Thriving in the waters of the estuaries, these marshes have been identified as one of the most extensive and productive marshland systems in the United States. There are nearly 400,000 acres of coastal marshlands in Georgia which represent a considerable portion of all remaining marshlands along the entire eastern coast of the United States.

These tidally inundated grassy wetlands crossed and drained by a series of increasingly smaller tidal creeks were created as a result of melting glaciers during the ice ages. The origin of Georgia’s marshlands can be traced back to the Holocene melting of the continental glaciers. One theory suggests that sediment, sand, and soil brought down by the rivers, blown by the wind, and washed ashore by the waves gradually built up into ridges and dunes on the landward side of the shoreline. Water from the melting glaciers resulted in rising sea levels which flooded the coast and mainland, and the ridges were given prominence as barrier islands. Ocean waters behind these islands formed lagoons, and later the marshlands. This process took place several times; thereby creating additional marshes between more barrier islands, and finally the salt marshes as we know them today.