For those of you wondering what a salt marsh is, it’s a kind of coastal wetland that are flooded and drained by salt water brought in by the tides every day. These massive living sponges might not look like much on the ground but from the air the looks like the veins of the world’s heart…

10 – USA – www.savejekyllisland.org/NewsletterSpring2012.html

Most salt marshes are usually formed only in areas that are well sheltered. But with the right mix of water, they can form anywhere, including inland and high grounds.

9 – USA – www.pinterest.com/pin/332140541238794417

All these salt marshes are coastal ecosystems that are often home to rare birds, insects, and plant life.

8 – England, UK – www.lesvants.com/stock_files/Miscellaneous_Scenic.html

It might be cutting their beauty short, but essentially salt marshes are nothing more than giant mixing bowls for fresh and salt water. (plus a few plants)

7 – Alaska – www.pinterest.com

Bays, inlets, harbours, and sounds can all become salt marsh estuaries if they have the right mixture of fresh water and salt water crashing together.

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6 – England, UK – www.nationaltrust.org.uk/blakeney/things-to-see-and-do/stiffkey

Stiffkey salt marshes have amazing twisting creeks and muddy basins that are subject to daily tidal flooding as all of these marshes are.

5 – USA – hqworld.net/gallery/details.php?image_id=4420&sessionid=74fcfa28e8801e66b39fbbd4e513a03b

A salt marsh is often defined as thick vegetation growth that is growing on muddy shores. This means that not all of them are a stunning as these ones I have picked. Some really are a few plants and flowers on a mud flat.

4 – Wales, UK – www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthpicturegalleries/8841408/Landscape-Photographer-of-the-Year-2011-winners.html?image=26

I don’t live very far away from this at all. Having seen it from the ground, it didn’t look even half as amazing.

3 – UK – www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2201540/Essex-saltmarshes-seen-make-look-like-brain.html

Salt marshes form in areas that already have mud flats. The mud is a great place to grow the vegetation needed for the salt flats.

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2 – USA – www.nhdfl.org/about-forests-and-lands/bureaus/natural-heritage-bureau/photo

Salt marshes are soft and spongy because the soil is composed of deep mud and peat that is several feet thick!

1 – Spain – www.kickassfacts.com/20-kickass-amazing-landscapes-earth

You can really see the vein-like structures in this national park and for this reason, I thought you might like to see them as well.