Slough (wetland)

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Descriptive meanings

• In the UK, a slough is a muddy or marshy area.
• In eastern and southeastern United States
  United States
  
  The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
  , a slough is a type of swamp
  Swamp
  
  A swamp is a wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land, by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a substantial number of hammock , or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation....
   or shallow lake
  Lake
  
  A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all....
   system, typically formed as or by the backwater of a larger waterway. It is similar to a bayou
  Bayou
  
  A bayou is a small, slow-moving stream or creek, or a lake or pool that lies in an abandoned channel of a stream. Bayous are usually located in relatively flat, low-lying areas, for example, in the Mississippi River River delta region of the southern United States....
   with trees being present (that is, a swamp), and unlike a bog
  Bog
  
  A bog or mire is a wetland type that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—usually mosses, but also lichens in Arctic climates....
   or marsh
  Marsh
  
  In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland which is subject to frequent or continuous flood . Typically the water is shallow and features Poaceaees, Juncaceaees, Phragmites, typhas, Cyperaless, and other herbaceous plants....
   that lacks trees. It can also refer to the area of deeper water between a sandbar and a beach
  Beach
  
  File:MiamiSouthBeachPanoramaEdit.jpgA beach is a geology landform along the shoreline of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of Rock , such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, pebbles, or cobble....
   or between two sandbars.
• The term slough appears as well in the names of oxbow lake
  Oxbow lake
  
  An oxbow lake is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the mainstem of a river is cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow lake for the distinctive curved shape that results from this process....
  s, e.g. Meadowbrook Slough of Snoqualmie River
  Snoqualmie River
  
  The Snoqualmie River is a 45 mile long river in the central portion of King County, Washington. The three main tributaries are the North, Middle, and South Forks, which drain the west side of the Cascade Mountains near the town of North Bend, Washington and join near the town of Snoqualmie, Washington just above the Snoqualmie Falls....
   in Washington State
  Washington
  
  Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
  .
• In the western U.S., a slough is a secondary channel
  Channel (geography)
  
  In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar , bay, or any shallow body of water....
   of a river delta
  River delta
  
  A delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river....
   or a narrow channel in a shallow salt-water marsh, usually flushed by the tide
  Tide
  
  Tides are the rising of Earth's ocean surface caused by the tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun acting on the oceans. Tides cause changes in the depth of the marine and estuary water bodies and produce oscillating currents known as tidal streams, making prediction of tides important for coastal navigation ....
  . While this is in essence the same application of the term as used in the eastern U.S., a singular difference is that there exist no native trees in the west that would grow out into the waterway to form a swamp, such as the Elkhorn Slough
  Elkhorn Slough
  
  Elkhorn Slough is a tidal Slough and estuary on Monterey Bay in Monterey County, California. The community of Moss Landing, California and the huge Moss Landing Power Plant are located at the mouth of the slough on the bay....
  . The secondary channel meaning is particularly common on the lower reaches of the Fraser River
  Fraser River
  
  The Fraser River is the longest river in British Columbia, Canada, rising near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,375 km , into the Pacific Ocean at the city of Vancouver, British Columbia....
   in British Columbia
  British Columbia
  
  British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
  , from Laidlaw
  Laidlaw, British Columbia
  
  Laidlaw is the western part of Hope, British Columbia on the south side of the Fraser River and along the Trans-Canada Highway....
   downstream to the river's estuary. Important sloughs on the Fraser are the Deas, Nicomen and Sea Bird Sloughs, adjacent to the islands of the same name.
• In the northern Great Plains
  Great Plains
  
  The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada....
   of the U.S., a slough is a pond (often alkali
  Alkali
  
  In chemistry, an alkali is a Base , Ionic compound salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal Chemical element. Alkalis are best known for being Base s that dissolve in water....
  ne) usually the result of glaciation (see kettle (geology)
  Kettle (geology)
  
  A kettle is a shallow, sediment-filled body of water formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters....
  ); also called a pothole, whence Prairie Pothole Region to describe the area where these sloughs are abundant.
• In the Canadian Prairies
  Canadian Prairies
  
  The Canadian Prairies is a list of regions of Canada of Canada, specifically in Western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political....
  , slough refers to any naturally formed shallow freshwater (or alkaline) pond, usually habitat for waterfowl
  Waterfowl
  
  Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, goose, and swans.They are strong swimmers with medium to large bodies....
  . Slough is shorthand for any body of open water smaller than a lake.
• As is the case of the Sammamish Slough
  Sammamish River
  
  The Sammamish River flows through north King County, Washington for about 14 miles, draining Lake Sammamish into Lake Washington. Along its course, the Sammamish River flows through Redmond, Washington, Woodinville, Washington, Bothell, Washington, and Kenmore, Washington....
  , in the United States Pacific Northwest a slough refers to a slow-moving, canal-like, river or channel.

Examples

• Seal Slough
  Seal Slough
  
  Seal Slough is a narrow winding tide channel through a tidal marsh in San Mateo, California and Foster City, California. This slough has been the object of a wetland restoration ecology project in recent years to enhance habitat value....
  , San Mateo, California
  San Mateo, California
  
  San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame, California to the north, Foster City, California to the east, and Belmont, California to the south....
  .
• , San Diego County, California
  San Diego County, California
  
  San Diego County is a county located near the Pacific Ocean in the far southwest of the U.S. state of California. The state of California estimates San Diego County's population as of 2008 to be 3,146,274 people, making it the second most populous county in California, ahead of its northwestern neighbor Orange County, California....
  .
• Lost Lake Slough, Gunnison County, Colorado
  Colorado
  
  The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
  .

In literature

• A deep bog known as the Slough of Despond
  Slough of Despond
  
  The Slough of Despond is a deep bog in John Bunyan's allegory The Pilgrim's Progress, into which the character Christian sinks under the weight of his sins and his sense of guilt....
   is found in The Pilgrim's Progress
  The Pilgrim's Progress
  
  The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan is a Christian allegory. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print....
   by John Bunyan
  John Bunyan
  
  John Bunyan was an English Christianity writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress, arguably the most famous published Christian allegory....
  .
• Slough is commonly used in Laura Ingalls Wilder
  Laura Ingalls Wilder
  
  Laura Ingalls Wilder was an United States author, who wrote the Little House on the Prairie series of children's books based on her childhood in a settler family....
  's book By The Shores Of Silver Lake
  By the Shores of Silver Lake
  
  By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, was published in 1939 and is the fifth out of nine books written in her Little House series, also known as "The Laura Years"....
  .

See also

• Bayou
  Bayou
  
  A bayou is a small, slow-moving stream or creek, or a lake or pool that lies in an abandoned channel of a stream. Bayous are usually located in relatively flat, low-lying areas, for example, in the Mississippi River River delta region of the southern United States....
  
• Carr (fen)