Slough (wetland)

The word slough (in British English pronEng|ˈslaʊ, to rhyme with "cow"; in American and Canadian English pronounced IPA|/ˈsluː/, "slew") has several meanings related to wetland or aquatic features.

The etymology is related to the Dutch word 'slechten' = to lower, to cut, to destroy. Also related to 'to slay'. In Irish, Gaelic "sloc" = a pit, pool. Also related to (German) schlucken, (Swed.) sluka, (Dutch) slikken = to swallow. Related to 'slime'. [ A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language] [Van Dale: Etymologisch woordenboek]

Descriptive meanings

*In the UK, a slough is a muddy or marshy area.
*In eastern and southeastern United States, a slough is a type of swamp or shallow lake system, typically formed as or by the backwater of a larger waterway. It is similar to a bayou with trees being present (that is, a swamp), and unlike a bog or marsh that lacks trees. It can also refer to the area of deeper water between a sandbar and a beach or between two sandbars.
*The term slough appears as well in the names of oxbow lakes, e.g. "Meadowbrook Slough" of Snoqualmie River in Washington State.
*In the western U.S., a slough is a secondary channel of a river delta or a narrow channel in a shallow salt-water marsh, usually flushed by the tide. While this is in essence the same application of the term as used in the eastern U.S., a singular difference is that there exist no native trees in the west that would grow out into the waterway to form a swamp, such as the Elkhorn Slough. The secondary channel meaning is particularly common on the lower reaches of the Fraser River in British Columbia, from Laidlaw downstream to the river's estuary. Important sloughs on the Fraser are the Deas, Nicomen and Sea Bird Sloughs, adjacent to the islands of the same name.
*In the northern Great Plains of the U.S., a slough is a pond (often alkaline) usually the result of glaciation (see kettle (geology)); also called a "pothole", whence Prairie Pothole Region to describe the area where these sloughs are abundant.Fact|date=February 2007
* In the Canadian Prairies, slough refers to any naturally formed shallow freshwater (or alkaline) pond, usually habitat for waterfowl. Slough is shorthand for any body of open water smaller than a lake.
* In the case of the Sammamish Slough in the United States Pacific Northwest, slough refers to a slow-moving, canal-like river.

Examples

*Seal Slough, San Mateo, California
* [http://www.famosaslough.org/index.htm Famosa Slough] , San Diego County, California
*Lost Lake Slough, Gunnison County, Colorado

In literature

* A deep bog known as the Slough of Despond is found in "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan.
*Slough is commonly used in Laura Ingalls Wilder's book "By The Shores Of Silver Lake"

ee also

*Bayou
*Carr (fen)

References