The Role of Tides in Creating Zones in a Salt Marsh: Interpretive Panel

Description:

This digitally illustrated interpretive panel illustrates how interactions between fresh water and salt water, influenced by tidal patterns, create ecological zones in a Saltwater Marsh such as Corte Madera Marsh in Marin County, Northern California. The water of the San Fransico Bay and the water of the Corte Madera Creek permeate the silty soil of the marsh, and a banded ecological pattern forms based on the relative salinity of the soil at each elevation and the plants that can survive in that salinity. In a Northern California Saltwater Marsh, the lower marsh zone exclusively grows California Cordgrass, which is incredibly salt-tolerant. Species like Marsh Jaumea and Pickleweed dominate the middle marsh zone while the upper marsh zone with very low soil salinity can support a more diverse plant community, including species like California Poppy and Coyote Brush.

This panel was created as part of a project done for the City of Larkspur Recreation Department.

Medium: Photoshop and InDesign