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Bar-Built Wetland Footage

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

April 25, 2014 | 9:29

Bar-built estuaries are the reaches of coastal rivers and streams that are ecologically influenced by seasonal closures of their tidal inlets. The frequency and duration of inlet closure can be natural or managed. The tidal regime can be muted or not (i.e., the tidal range can be the same or less
than that of the adjacent marine or estuarine system when the tidal inlet is open). The salinity regime of a bar-built estuary can be highly variable. It can be fresh throughout very wet years or hypersaline during extended droughts. Bar-built estuaries covered by this module are often referred to as "lagoons;" geomorphologically this term refers to any coastal water feature behind a bay-mouth bar.

This video was filmed at Waddell Beach and Rancho del Oso (a part of Big Basin Redwoods State Park) in Santa Cruz County (3603 Cabrillo Hwy, Davenport, CA 95017).