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A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. [1] [2] It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. [2] The unique water chemistry of fens is a result of the ground or surface water input.
A variety of mire types in Carbajal Valley, Argentina Avaste Fen, one of the largest fens in Estonia A valley mire creates a level ground surface in otherwise dramatic topography. Upper Bigo Bog, Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda. A peatland is a type of wetland whose soils consist of organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat.
The bog continues to form peat, and over time a shallow dome of bog peat develops into a raised bog. The dome is typically a few meters high in the center and is often surrounded by strips of fen or other wetland vegetation at the edges or along streamsides where groundwater can percolate into the wetland.
It is a poetical or dialect word meaning a sheet of standing water, a lake or a pond (OED). The OED's fourth definition ("A marsh, a fen.") includes wetland such as fen amongst usages of the word which is reflected in the lexicographers' recording of it. In a quotation from the year 598, mere is contrasted against moss (bog) and field against fen.
The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp forests and "transitional" or shrub swamps. In the boreal regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more formally termed a bog, fen, or muskeg. Some of the world's largest swamps are found along major rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi, and the Congo. [6]
Wetlands within this category include inland marshes and swamps as well as bogs, fens, pocosins, tundra and floodplains. According to the Cowardin classification system, palustrine wetlands can also be considered the area on the side of a river or a lake, as long as they are covered by vegetation such as trees, shrubs, and emergent plants. [1]
Swamp in Białowieża Forest, on the Belarus–Poland border. Swamps, marshes, mires, bogs, and fens are important parts of the natural landscape in Belarus.Vast swamplands historically covered the country, and currently there are around 2.5 million hectares of wetlands in Belarus.
While a cataract bog is host to plants typical of a bog, it is technically a fen, not a bog. Bogs get water from the atmosphere, while fens get their water from groundwater seepage. [11] Cataract bogs inhabit a narrow, linear zone next to the stream, and are partly shaded by trees and shrubs in the adjacent plant communities. [12]