Slough (hydrology)

[5] In North America, "slough" may refer to a side-channel from or feeding a river, or an inlet or natural channel only sporadically filled with water.

[7] Sloughs support a wide variety of plant life that is adapted to rapidly changing physical conditions such as salinity, oxygen levels and depth.

Open water sloughs are characterized by submerged and floating vegetation which includes periphyton mats dominated by sawgrass typically.

The topographical and vegetation heterogeneity of ridge and slough landscape influences the productivity and diversity of birds and fish adapted to that wetland.

[9] Fish that typically inhabit sloughs include tidewater goby, California killifish, mosquitofish, and topsmelt.

This allows for a higher availability of food to enhance the function of inshore habitats and emphasizes the importance of invertebrate prey populations and how they influence plant production.

[7] A slough can form when a meander gets cut off from the main river channel creating an oxbow lake that accumulates with fine overbank sediment and organic material such as peat.

Multiple of these deposits mounted on top of the surrounding bedrock can become elongated alongside the slough and create flow diversions within the system.

Vegetation changes consist of an increase in the amount of dense grass and decrease in the area of open water, creating a blurring of the directional ridge and slough pattern.