Gulf Coast Chenier Plain Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh

Geology

Recent alluvial deposits.

Landform

Coastlines, bay margins, bay inlets, along dredged canals, creeks, and river inlets where tidal influence is adequate to maintain high salinities.

Soils

Fine textured soils, sometimes with high organic content at the surface. Ecoclasses (from Ecological Site Descriptions) include Brackish and Saltmarsh types.

Parent Description

This typically herbaceous dominated system has a composition that varies depending on the salinity of the environment and the depth of frequent tidal flooding. Marshes that are frequently flooded by tides (low marshes) tend to be strongly dominated by Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass). Occasionally these sites may have significant cover of Avicennia germinans (black mangrove), though freezes tend to reduce the cover of mangrove. Some patches of Juncus roemerianus (blackrush) may be interspersed. Higher marshes of saline to brackish sites tend to be somewhat more diverse, with Spartina patens (marshhay cordgrass) a common dominant. Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass) may be present, but is typically not strongly dominant. Other species that may be present, or sometimes dominant include Spartina spartinae (Gulf cordgrass), Distichlis spicata (saltgrass), Batis maritima (saltwort), Salicornia spp. (glasswort), Schoenoplectus robustus (sturdy bulrush), Schoenoplectus americanus (three- square bulrush), Paspalum vaginatum (seashore paspalum), Sporobolus virginicus (seashore dropseed), and Borrichia frutescens (sea ox-eye daisy). Iva frutescens (bigleaf sumpweed) and Baccharis halimifolia (baccharis) are commonly encountered woody species.