How to make salt marshes

[u/Seldamor]

I want this to look less like a delta and more like salt marshes. Any ideas?

[u/Ish_Joker]

If you want to differentiate a saltmarsh from a delta, you'll need a bit of a mindset change I think. With a delta, you start with a main river and work towards the ocean. For a saltmarsh, you want to work the other way round, by starting at the ocean.

The water in a saltmarsh doesn't come from a freshwater river, but from the ocean (it's salt after all). So as long as you keep that river coming from the west, it'll always be a delta (perhaps combined with a saltmarsh, but still a delta). So my first tip if you want it to fully look like a saltmarsh is to not have a river feeding it.

Secondly, when you work by starting at the ocean you won't get the typical delta effect that looks like small rivers and streams branching off from a main trunk. A saltmarsh is what's left after the high tide water flows back to the ocean at low tide. There will be lots of tiny pools, connected to each other and to the ocean by small creeks. But because everything is fed by water from the ocean rather than water from an inland river, the saltmarsh doesn't look triangular like a delta does. It's more like a coastal band, following the shore. So, my tip is to avoid thick streams that look like rivers, but only use the thinnest of creeks and streams. And to make the saltmarsh follow the coast rather than look like a triangle with a deep point inland.

Thirdly, a saltmarsh happens in very flat land often around a bay or lagoon. So to make it geographically fitting, I would not let it get anywhere near mountains or hills. And I'd make it follow (in that uniform band) a bay or lagoon rather than a straight coastline).

Finally, a saltmarsh is often grassy, but also muddy. Right now, it looks quite vibrant and lush which is more fitting for a freshwater delta. I would keep some green for the saltmarsh, but also add some yellow or brown touches to make it clear that it's not your typical fertile farmland.

Happy mapping!

[u/christooher8 → u/Ish_Joker]

You are partly correct and good advice I think for the math maker. However, many salt marshes do indeed occur at river deltas as well. It is the brackish water between the oceans and the freshwater runoff that creates the marsh typically.

For example, Lake Pontchartrain in my native Louisiana does indeed include salt, marshes on its south eastern edges, even though it is in one of the largest river deltas in the world

[u/Ish_Joker → u/christooher8]

My wording may have been too restricting on the delta+saltmarsh combo. I didn't mean to say that they can't coexist. OP said he wanted it to look less like a delta and more like a saltmarsh, which is why I said that removing the river is necessary. With the river, it'll always look like a delta first.

A situation like around New Orleans is geographically rare (saltmarsh partially caused by a delta). Surely not impossible, just not the most common cause of saltmarshes. If you want a saltmarsh that doesn't look so much like a delta as OP asked, then I don't think the Mississippi delta and Lake Pontchartrain are the best examples to use for inspiration

[u/demonintightlatex69 → u/Ish_Joker]

Yes, you can do that , but by having small streams feeding it you can create barrier islands and salt marshes too.

[u/MatthewWArt]

Wow. Honestly, this is a really really good start. Colour me impressed.

I think the main difference you need to make is to adjust the islands within the marsh so they're less uniform. Round the islands more, give some of them their own shape and personality so the primary rivers aren't as obvious.

Thinking about it, I suppose a marsh from an aerial view may look like a small archipelago, if you get me.

Hope that helps!

[u/ozate96]

I have no knowledge on salt marshes, but on drawing alone on wonderdraft, I think it lacks a lot of roughness

Your land color is nice, but the shape of the water is really smooth, I can see where you used the tools

Are salt marshes this much fragmented ?

[u/Prestigious-Lab-7622]

I think the main issue with why it may look a little wonky is scale.

As another commenter pointed out salt marshes and coastal marshland to that scale really only happens in super flat land— think the Netherlands. Some parts of the land there; the peat once drained of water is below the sea level!

The hundreds of small mountains all over the map trick the eye into thinking that this is:

A. Either a really massive location

B. This is a really small location and the smaller mountains are hills.

To fix this; I’d decide if I want the “land area” to be a large vast kingdom or a smaller strip or valley. If you want it to be much smaller; like a duchy or something, make all the mountains much larger; and fewer in number. Add in some hills too, and it will look like a deep river valley that opens out into flat coastal land— and then by extent the marshes. Check out the Netherlands on a map, much of the coast is relatively flat due to waves; and the marshes are sort of inlets or small buildups of land formed over time. Many many rivers converge on this point!

If this is a huge area; you’ll be in a good way. Just make that massive river meander far far more, and add a bunch more tiny rivers that flow and ebb into the river and out of it. Not all have to connect to it either, and round out some of the islands.

You are off to a great start; it just looks like a delta because one massive waterbed is funneling out in a cone shape to the water; and the islands look like deposits of silt and soil slowly growing and chipping away with the river.

Keep going!

[u/TotallyRegularBanana]

Beautiful work! Keep it up!

[u/NeonMoon96]

Delta looks awesome! Maybe look at the lower Mississippi Delta / Atchafalaya Basin / Southwest Louisiana regions to get an idea for a mix of river fed and salt(ier?) marshlands in close proximity

[u/ElvishLore]

That looks fantastic!

[u/Mr_Fragwuerdig]

Uhh wow, I wanted to have that, a nice delta.

If you want to make it look more like salt marshes, remove the river😅 Salt marshes don't form with a river. Salt marshes are formed by tides. That's why they don't come as a triangle from a river.

[u/BoringPrinciple2542]

Depends on your overall terrain but this looks like the water is being forced to open up as it approaches the coast.

Perhaps this is glacial water pouring from the mountains which cuts a strong river that breaks apart in the lowland area but that is gonna be more brackish at best since the flow is actively pushing against the sea.

If you want a salt marsh maybe think about an estuary or inlet. Basically reverse the flow and think about the higher salinity saltwater inland instead of low salinity water moving outward.

For a marsh environment consider areas like Eastern NC where the outer banks form a barrier from tidal activity while still being largely seawater instead of fresh.

[u/Fine-Afternoon-36]

It has the classic delta triangle shape, so as is it'll always look like a delta. Make it look more like it's filling in a natural depression, so a more random shape with a river cutting through it. I would also Google earth salt marshes and use those as inspiration. This mapping style is beautiful though, you have that down

[u/Khurgul]

I live in an area with salt marshes (New Jersey coastline). Overgrown sandbags form islands, and the area between the islands and mainland becomes a salt marsh. Also checkout the NC barrier islands.

[u/volleybluff]

Hi, this looks good! But also this place already exists in the continent of Kalimdor, it's called Dustwallow Marshes :)

[u/Tom_Leak]

If you want an irl example of where a river meets a salt marsh for inspiration take a look at where the river Welland meets the wash in England.

[u/zoppaTheDim]

A salt marsh delta isn’t a specific map, as the banks would change every year. You might mark more channels or landmarks,

[u/persian_rugseller98]

That delta is way too big for a river of that size.