Springs, waterfalls, and wetlands

Rushy Lagoon

Rushy Lagoon is a locality and farming property on the far north-east coast of Tasmania, whose floodplain wetland is part of the Flood Plain Lower Ringarooma River Ramsar site.

Salins-les-Thermes, Savoie village and spa resort in the Tarentaise, administrative centre of Salins-Fontaine; renamed by 1926 decree, with saline thermal springs above 15 g/L discharging over 40 tonnes of salt daily.

Salt marsh

A salt marsh is a coastal wetland flooded and drained by tidal salt water, occurring worldwide and serving as nursery habitat for over 75% of fisheries species.

Samphire

Samphire, also called Saint Peter's herb, names two unrelated salty coastal plants eaten as vegetables: the marsh glassworts Salicornia and Sarcocornia, and rock samphire of sea cliffs.

Sandhill crane

Sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis, Grus canadensis): abundant North American crane with six subspecies, three migratory and three non-migratory; Mid-Continent Population about 1.06 million, staging on the Platte River.

Sankarani-Fié

Sankarani-Fié is a Ramsar wetland site (no. 1167) in the Kankan region of Guinea, designated 17 January 2002, covering the Sankarani river basin; extended from 1,015,200 to 1,656,000 ha, noted for floodplains, fisheries, and hippopotami.

Se7en Wetlands

Se7en Wetlands is a 1,640-acre constructed treatment wetland in Lakeland, Florida, providing tertiary wastewater treatment since 1987 on former phosphate mine land, opened as a public park in 2018 with trails, wildlife, and an education center project.

Sesuvium

Sesuvium, sea purslane genus of Aizoaceae; succulent C3/C4/CAM herbs of tropical coasts; S. portulacastrum is an edible facultative halophyte used for sand fixation and saline-soil bioremediation.

Shadegan Ponds (تالاب شادگان)

Shadegan Ponds (تالاب شادگان), or Shadegan Wetland, is Iran's largest Ramsar site (400,000 ha, Khuzestan, designated 1975), a Jarahi delta marsh and tidal mudflat complex vital for Marbled Teal, now severely shrunk by dams, pollution, and drainage.

Shigir Idol

Shigir Idol (Шигирский идол): an Early Mesolithic larch sculpture from a Urals peat bog, found 1894, dated c. 11,500 years old, the world's oldest known monumental wooden sculpture, displayed in Yekaterinburg.

Shivanasamudra Falls (ಶಿವನಸಮುದ್ರ ಜಲಪಾತ)

Shivanasamudra Falls (ಶಿವನಸಮುದ್ರ ಜಲಪಾತ), twin Kaveri waterfalls Gaganachukki (90 m) and Bharachukki (69 m) in Mandya-Chamarajanagar, Karnataka, site of Asia's first major hydroelectric station, commissioned 1902 with a 147 km line to Kolar Gold Fields.

Shoebill

Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex), also called whale-headed stork, a Vulnerable solitary African swamp bird, sole member of Balaenicipitidae, related to pelicans and hamerkop, hunting lungfish with a foot-long bill.

Shoshone Falls

Shoshone Falls, the Niagara of the West, is a 212-foot waterfall on the Snake River near Twin Falls, Idaho, carved by the Bonneville Flood, seasonally reduced by irrigation diversions, and home to a 1907 hydroelectric plant.

Sistema de Humedales de la Zona Sur de Honduras

Sistema de Humedales de la Zona Sur de Honduras, Ramsar site no. 1000: seven coastal wetland areas on the Golfo de Fonseca (Choluteca and Valle), designated 10 July 1999, 69,711 ha extended to 75,031.13 ha, mangrove ecosystem threatened by shrimp aquaculture.

Sistema Delta Estuarino del Río Magdalena, Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta

Sistema Delta Estuarino del Río Magdalena, Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta (SDERM CGSM): Colombia's largest coastal lagoon and first Ramsar site (1998, site 951), a Caribbean brackish wetland hit by causeway-driven mangrove die-off, partially rehabilitated by 1990s dredging, and invaded by Hydrilla verticillata in 2025.

Sistema Hidrológico de Soncor del Salar de Atacama

Sistema Hidrológico de Soncor del Salar de Atacama, Ramsar Site 876 (designated 2 December 1996, 67,133 ha), is a Chilean high-Andean wetland of shallow saline lagoons (Puilar, Chaxa, Barros Negros) fed by eastern groundwater, a key breeding site for three flamingo species within Los Flamencos National Reserve.

Sistema Lagunar Agiabampo - Bacorehuis - Río Fuerte Antiguo

Sistema Lagunar Agiabampo-Bacorehuis-Río Fuerte Antiguo, Ramsar site 1797, is a 90,804 ha five-lagoon coastal wetland on the Sonora-Sinaloa border, Gulf of California, designated 2 February 2008, with mangroves, migratory birds, and blue shrimp habitat.

Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI): UK designation for land of special flora, fauna, or geological interest, notified by Natural England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; 4,127 English sites covering 1,088,000 hectares, with condition targets to 2042.

Snoqualmie Falls

Snoqualmie Falls is a 270-foot waterfall on the Snoqualmie River in Snoqualmie, Washington, about 30 miles east of Seattle, drawing about 2 million visitors a year.

Society of Wetland Scientists

Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS), international professional society founded 1980 by Richard Macomber; 3,000+ members in 60+ countries; publishes Wetlands journal and Wetland Science & Practice; administers PWS certification.

Soda geyser

A soda geyser, also called a Mentos and coke geyser, is a fountain of carbonated liquid produced when dissolved carbon dioxide erupts from a soda, famously after Mentos candy is dropped in.

Solti-síkság

Solti-síkság (Solt Plain, also Csepel-Solt-Bajaisíkság, Kalocsai-síkság) is a Hungarian geographical microregion (code 1.1.22) on the Danube's left bank in Bács-Kiskun County, a 93 m floodplain with saline soils and 99.2 D-e-Meter cropland quality.

Somerset Levels

The Somerset Levels are a low-lying, drained wetland plain of about 650 km2 in southwest England, home of the Neolithic Sweet Track, rich wetland wildlife, and extensive flood management infrastructure.

Soomaa National Park

Soomaa National Park (Soomaa Rahvuspark), established 1993 in southwestern Estonia, protects 39,843 ha of bogs, floodplains and forests across five bogs, famous for its fifth-season floods covering up to 17,500 ha and the UNESCO-listed haabjas dugout canoe.