Wetland - List of Wetland Types

List of Wetland Types

Wetland types:

• A—Marine and Coastal Zone wetlands

1. Marine waters—permanent shallow waters less than six metres deep at low tide; includes sea bays, straits
2. Subtidal aquatic beds; includes kelp beds, seagrasses, tropical marine meadows
3. Coral reefs
4. Rocky marine shores; includes rocky offshore islands, sea cliffs
5. Sand, shingle or pebble beaches; includes sand bars, spits, sandy islets
6. Intertidal mud, sand or salt flats
7. Intertidal marshes; includes saltmarshes, salt meadows, saltings, raised salt marshes, tidal brackish and freshwater marshes
8. Intertidal forested wetlands; includes mangrove swamps, nipa swamps, tidal freshwater swamp forests
9. Brackish to saline lagoons and marshes with one or more relatively narrow connections with the sea
10. Freshwater lagoons and marshes in the coastal zone
11. Non-tidal freshwater forested wetlands

• B—Inland wetlands

1. Permanent rivers and streams; includes waterfalls
2. Seasonal and irregular rivers and streams
3. Inland deltas (permanent)
4. Riverine floodplains; includes river flats, flooded river basins, seasonally flooded grassland, savanna and palm savanna
5. Permanent freshwater lakes (> 8 ha); includes large oxbow lakes
6. Seasonal/intermittent freshwater lakes (> 8 ha), floodplain lakes
7. Permanent saline/brackish lakes
8. Seasonal/intermittent saline lakes
9. Permanent freshwater ponds (< 8 ha), marshes and swamps on inorganic soils; with emergent vegetation waterlogged for at least most of the growing season
10. Seasonal/intermittent freshwater ponds and marshes on inorganic soils; includes sloughs, potholes; seasonally flooded meadows, sedge marshes
11. Permanent saline/brackish marshes
12. Seasonal saline marshes
13. Shrub swamps; shrub-dominated freshwater marsh, shrub carr, alder thicket on inorganic soils
14. Freshwater swamp forest; seasonally flooded forest, wooded swamps; on inorganic soils
15. Peatlands; forest, shrub or open bogs
16. Alpine and tundra wetlands; includes alpine meadows, tundra pools, temporary waters from snow melt
17. Freshwater springs, oases and rock pools
18. Geothermal wetlands
19. Inland, subterranean karst wetlands

• C—Human-made wetlands

1. Water storage areas; reservoirs, barrages, hydro-electric dams, impoundments (generally > 8 ha)
2. Ponds, including farm ponds, stock ponds, small tanks (generally < 8 ha)
3. Aquaculture ponds; fish ponds, shrimp ponds
4. Salt exploitation; salt pans, salines
5. Excavations; gravel pits, borrow pits, mining pools
6. Wastewater treatment; sewage farms, settling ponds, oxidation basins
7. Irrigated land and irrigation channels; rice fields, canals, ditches
8. Seasonally flooded arable land, farm land