Slough (wetland)

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The term slough (in the UK, pronounced [slau] (as in "cow"); in the US, pronounced [slu] (as in "slew")) has several meanings related to wetland or aquatic features that seem to derive from local experience. For example:

1 Descriptive meanings
2 Examples
3 In literature
4 References

[edit] Descriptive meanings

In the UK, a slough is a muddy or marshy area (for example see the probable derivation of Slough in Berkshire and other place names called Slough).
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.
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.
In the northern Great Plains of the U.S. and Canada, 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Examples

Seal Slough, San Mateo, California

[edit] 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 Ingall Wilder's book "By The Shores Of Silver Lake"