Where to Draw Marshes on Fantasy Maps?
There are so many ways you can utilize marshes in your worldbuilding and storytelling. They can be a place of great abundance and biodiversity, or they can be somewhere filled with foreboding and danger. Either way, it’s important to understand how they actually form in order to place them on your map.
What is a Marsh?
A marsh is a type of wetland that is made up of herbaceous plants like grasses, cattails, or reeds such as papyrus. Unlike swamps, which contain many wood species of trees and shrubs. As we’ll later see, marshes can also be either freshwater or saltwater.
How a Marsh Forms
In many ways a marsh is like a very shallow lake filled with islands of vegetation. These little islands are a rich source of biodiversity and is important to the ecology of any area they appear.
When a river flows into a relatively flat area or depression, it will lose momentum and being to deposit fine sediment. This creates a network of small islands where grasses and reeds can flourish.
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Marsh or Lake?
Marshes and lakes form in a surprisingly similar way as both are essentially low lying areas that are filled with water. The primary difference is the overall depth of a marsh remains relatively shallow with a high water table to supply moisture to the plants.
Given enough time, lakes will fill with sediment from the rivers and streams that feed them. This results in an increasingly growing mud flat where and marsh can begin to take over.
Where to Draw Them On Your Maps
Marshes can be either saltwater or freshwater depending on if they’re along a coastline or more inland. Some remain flooded year round, while salt marsh often drain and refill with the tides.
If you live in a wet enough climate, chances are there is a marsh somewhere nearby. Keep an eye out, and imagine the storytelling possibilities!
Want to Learn How to Draw Marshes?
If you want to learn how to draw marshes on your own fantasy maps, I’ve put together a tutorial which will walk you through my process!
I hope you found this little Map Tip helpful in your journey to map your story. If you want to support Map Effects and help other map makers, be sure to share this with someone who will find it helpful and pin it to save for later!
Happy Mapping!
- Josh
