ABSTRACT
Wetlands are land-water systems which characterize shoreline interfaces of most water bodies. Coastal wetlands are present throughout the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin. Their physical settings have developed from landscapes with a common geological history, even though substantial differences may exist in surface deposits and parent materials. In the Great Lakes Basin, primary importance is attributable to variables correlated with shoreline morphology and the hydrologic regime. The majority of Great Lakes wetlands develop in shallow depressional areas called lagoons or flood ponds which occur immediately landward of the shoreline edge. Riparian wetlands extend inland along the floodplains and banks of tributary streams entering the lake basin. The progressive development and dissipation of ice and snow along the Great Lakes shoreline creates environmental conditions and system sensitivities which differ markedly from those during the ice out period of the year.
