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Swale (geographical feature)

 

 
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Swale (geographical feature)
 
 
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A swale is a low tract of land, especially when moist 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....
y. The term can refer to a natural landscape feature or a human-created one. When created by humans, this open drain system is designed to manage water runoff
Surface runoff

Surface runoff is the water flow which occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water, from rain, snowmelt, or other sources flows over the land....
. (See bioswale
Bioswale

Bioswales are Landscape architecture elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water. They consist of a wikt:swale drainage course with gently sloped sides and filled with vegetation, compost and/or riprap....
.)

The term swale has been popularized as a rainwater harvesting
Rainwater harvesting

Rainwater harvesting is the gathering, or accumulating and storing, of rainwater. Traditionally, rainwater harvesting has been practiced in arid and semi-arid areas, and has provided drinking water, domestic water, water for livestock, water for small irrigation and a way to increase ground water levels....
 and soil conservation
Soil conservation

Soil conservation is a set of management strategies for prevention of soil being erosion from the earth?s surface or becoming chemically altered by overuse, salinization, acidification, or other chemical soil contamination....
 strategy by Bill Mollison
Bill Mollison

Bruce Charles 'Bill' Mollison is a researcher, author, scientist, teacher, naturalist and has been called the 'father of permaculture', an integrated system of design co-developed with David Holmgren that encompasses not only agriculture, horticulture, architecture and ecology but also economic systems, land access strategies and legal syste...
 and advocates of permaculture
Permaculture

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and perennial agriculture systems that mimic the relationships found in the natural Ecology....
. Swales as used in permaculture are designed to slow and capture runoff by spreading it horizontally across the landscape (along an elevation
Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, often the above mean sea level. Elevation, or geometric height, is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface, such as an aircraft in flight or a s...
 contour line
Contour line

A contour line of a Function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value. In cartography, a contour line joins points of equal elevation above a given level, such as mean sea level....
), facilitating its infiltration
Infiltration (hydrology)

Infiltration is the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil. Infiltration rate in soil science is a measure of the rate at which soil is able to absorb rainfall or irrigation....
 into the soil.






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Encyclopedia


A swale is a low tract of land, especially when moist 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....
y. The term can refer to a natural landscape feature or a human-created one. When created by humans, this open drain system is designed to manage water runoff
Surface runoff

Surface runoff is the water flow which occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water, from rain, snowmelt, or other sources flows over the land....
. (See bioswale
Bioswale

Bioswales are Landscape architecture elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water. They consist of a wikt:swale drainage course with gently sloped sides and filled with vegetation, compost and/or riprap....
.)

The term swale has been popularized as a rainwater harvesting
Rainwater harvesting

Rainwater harvesting is the gathering, or accumulating and storing, of rainwater. Traditionally, rainwater harvesting has been practiced in arid and semi-arid areas, and has provided drinking water, domestic water, water for livestock, water for small irrigation and a way to increase ground water levels....
 and soil conservation
Soil conservation

Soil conservation is a set of management strategies for prevention of soil being erosion from the earth?s surface or becoming chemically altered by overuse, salinization, acidification, or other chemical soil contamination....
 strategy by Bill Mollison
Bill Mollison

Bruce Charles 'Bill' Mollison is a researcher, author, scientist, teacher, naturalist and has been called the 'father of permaculture', an integrated system of design co-developed with David Holmgren that encompasses not only agriculture, horticulture, architecture and ecology but also economic systems, land access strategies and legal syste...
 and advocates of permaculture
Permaculture

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and perennial agriculture systems that mimic the relationships found in the natural Ecology....
. Swales as used in permaculture are designed to slow and capture runoff by spreading it horizontally across the landscape (along an elevation
Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, often the above mean sea level. Elevation, or geometric height, is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface, such as an aircraft in flight or a s...
 contour line
Contour line

A contour line of a Function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value. In cartography, a contour line joins points of equal elevation above a given level, such as mean sea level....
), facilitating its infiltration
Infiltration (hydrology)

Infiltration is the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil. Infiltration rate in soil science is a measure of the rate at which soil is able to absorb rainfall or irrigation....
 into the soil. This type of swale is created by digging a ditch on contour and piling the dirt on the downstream side of the ditch to create a berm
Berm

A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier separating two areas. Berm is a loanword from Dutch language....
. In arid climates, vegetation (existing or planted) along the swale can benefit from the concentration of runoff.

Alternatively, the term swale may refer to a dry creek, a very shallow ditch dug between building lots to direct overland flow to storm sewer inlets.

In geology beach swales are long, narrow, usually shallow troughs between ridges on a beach, running parallel to the coastline.

"Swaleing" is the burning of dry vegetation on such land, as practiced on Dartmoor
Dartmoor

Dartmoor is an area of moorland in the centre of Devon, England. Protected by National parks of England and Wales status, it covers .The granite highland dates from the Carboniferous period of geology history....
, for example.

See also

  • Bioswale
    Bioswale

    Bioswales are Landscape architecture elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water. They consist of a wikt:swale drainage course with gently sloped sides and filled with vegetation, compost and/or riprap....
  • Gutter
    Gutter

    Gutter may refer to:* Rain gutter, a narrow channel which collects rainwater from the roof of a building and diverts it away from the structure, typically into a drain....
  • Keyline design
    Keyline Design

    Keyline design is a technique for maximizing beneficial use of water resources of a piece of land, and the Keyline refers to a specific topography linked to water flow....
  • Rain garden
    Rain garden

    A rain garden is a planted depression that is designed to allow rainwater runoff the opportunity to be absorbed from Impervious surface urban areas like roofs, driveways, walkways, and compacted lawn areas....
  • Surface runoff
    Surface runoff

    Surface runoff is the water flow which occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water, from rain, snowmelt, or other sources flows over the land....
  • Stormwater
    Stormwater

    Stormwater is a term used to describe water that originates during precipitation events. It may also be used to apply to water that originates with snowmelt or runoff water from overwatering that enters the stormwater system....


External links

  • from US Environmental Protection Agency
  • from Federal Highway Administration
    Federal Highway Administration

    The Federal Highway Administration is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two "programs," the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program....
  • from Michigan State University
    Michigan State University

    Michigan State University is a public university research university in East Lansing, Michigan, Michigan United States. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act....