Marshland or swamps?

Question

okay was is the difference between a marshland and a swamp? can you have a marshland in calfornia? can you have a swamp in california? if not where can you have either of them?

Answer 1

A swamp has more woody vegetation than a marsh and better drainage than a bog. Bogs do also have peat. California could have a swamp possibly. Probably not a huge one. A swamp is just a low lying area where water doesn't drain very well (or is constantly replenished) and the water stays there and plants and trees grow in it which makes it differ from a pond or lake which usually doesn't have such shallow water with things growing in it.

Swamps seem more temperate, bogs colder regions, marshes seem more the tropics to me. Not always, but generally seems so.

Answer 2

In general terms a swamp has woody vegetation and a marsh doesn't.  Bogs tend to be characterised by the presence of organic sediments (if thick enough it is called a peat bog).

I imagine you can have both in california.  I have definitely seen marsh there. Even though I never personally saw swamp there, I have only been in california for a total of about two weeks in my entire life, and there is a lot fo the state I have never seen.  I would be very surprised if there weren't any swamps.