1. ESTUARIES

2. ESTUARIES
Where fresh water and salt water mix. BRACKISH WATER – water with some salt, but not as much as the ocean

3. FEATURES Changes in Salinity (tides) Shallow Water – less than 30 feet
Nutrient rich
Lots of Life (animals and plants)

4. TYPES OF ESTUARIES Mangrove Forest Florida and Gulf of Mexico
Short gnarled trees

6. TYPES Salt Marsh East Coast
smelly mud – made of sediments, animal and plant matter and nutrients carried by freshwater
Cordgrass – common plant

8. PAMLICO SOUND Very large estuary in NC
Known for diversity of species and sea life

10. BENEFITS OF ESTUARIES Help prevent floods by absorbing runoff
Prevent erosion
Filter water – oysters are really good at this (25 gallons a day)
Provide habitat for baby sea life – nurseries
Diversity of life

11. Protecting Estuaries
Everything we put in the water could end up in an estuary
TOXINS could build up
Agriculture runoff leads to algae blooms
Against the law to damage estuaries
Not true in the past
Some wetlands were filled in for farm land