414 articles
Waterfalls of Yellowstone National Park
Waterfalls of Yellowstone National Park: over 40 named falls, led by the 308-foot Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, formed by rock-hardness contrasts, hydrothermal weakening, and glacial floods.
Waterfalls of Yosemite National Park
Waterfalls of Yosemite National Park: seasonal Sierra Nevada cascades including Yosemite Falls (2,425 ft, tallest measured in North America), Bridalveil Fall, and Horsetail Fall, fed by snowmelt peaking in May or June.
Western Congolian swamp forests
Western Congolian swamp forests (Forêts marécageuses de l'ouest du Congo): tropical freshwater swamp forest ecoregion on the right bank of the Congo River in ROC, DRC, and CAR, part of the world's largest swamp forest complex with Raphia palm stands and carbon-rich peat.
Wetland
Wetlands are water-saturated lands with hydrophytic vegetation and hydric soils, from marshes and bogs to mangroves. Defined by Ramsar (1971) and the EPA; 22% lost since 1970; largest biological methane source.
Wetland classification
Wetland classification systems group wetlands by hydrology, geomorphology, vegetation, and soils. Key frameworks: the U.S. Cowardin system (five systems, 56 classes), the Ramsar 42-type typology, and Brinson's HGM functional classification.
Wetland conservation in the United States
Wetland conservation in the United States covers Clean Water Act Section 404 regulation, mitigation banking, no-net-loss policy, and restoration programs protecting about 110 million acres of wetlands, reshaped by the 2023 Sackett v. EPA decision.
Wetland delineation
Wetland delineation is the field procedure of drawing the boundary between wetland and non-wetland areas on a parcel of land, usually for Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting.
Wetland flora of the British Isles
Wetland flora of the British Isles is the plant vegetation of fen, bog, marsh, swamp, and salt-marsh habitats, described as assemblages under the National Vegetation Classification.
Wetland indicator status
Wetland indicator status is a rating of how likely a plant species occurs in wetlands, assigned on the U.S. Army Corps' National Wetland Plant List.
Wetland Management Districts of Iowa
The Wetland Management Districts of Iowa are U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field offices protecting waterfowl habitat through scattered Waterfowl Production Areas and perpetual wetland easements rather than a single refuge.
Wetland Management Districts of Nebraska
The Wetland Management Districts of Nebraska are US Fish and Wildlife Service units managing scattered waterfowl production areas and easements, including the Rainwater Basin district established in 1963.
Wetland Protection Law of China
The Wetland Protection Law of China (中华人民共和国湿地保护法) is China's first dedicated wetland protection statute, approved in December 2021 and effective 1 June 2022, with per-square-meter penalties for wetland destruction.
Wetland restoration
Wetland restoration returns a degraded or formerly drained wetland to its pre-disturbance condition by re-establishing natural hydrology, substrate, and vegetation; full recovery of plant communities and nutrient cycling can take decades.
Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules (India)
The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules are India's central wetland regulations under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, first issued in 2010 and replaced in 2017 by state-led, wise-use management.
Wetlands of Tasmania
The wetlands of Tasmania are the island state's marshes, lagoons, peatlands, and saltmarshes, including 10 Ramsar sites, 89 nationally listed wetlands, and some of the southern hemisphere's most extensive blanket bogs.
William J. Mitsch
William J. Mitsch (1947–2025), American wetland ecologist and ecological engineer; founder of the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, journal Ecological Engineering, and the Wetlands textbook; 2004 Stockholm Water Prize co-laureate.
World's tallest waterfalls
The world's tallest waterfalls are ranked by total height and by tallest single drop; Angel Falls in Venezuela holds both records, with Tugela Falls in South Africa as challenger.
WWT wetland centres and reserves
The WWT wetland centers are ten visitor reserves in the UK run by the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, begun by Peter Scott at Slimbridge in 1946.
Xixi National Wetland Park (西溪国家湿地公园)
Xixi National Wetland Park (西溪国家湿地公园) in western Hangzhou is China's first national wetland park, opened May 1, 2005, a Ramsar site since 2009 combining urban, agricultural, and cultural wetlands.
Yde Girl
Yde Girl (Meisje van Yde), a Dutch bog body of a 16-year-old girl strangled with a woollen band, found 1897 near Yde, Drenthe; radiocarbon dated 40 BC–AD 50; held in the Drents Museum, Assen.
Yukon Flats
Yukon Flats, Alaska: vast lowland wetland region at the Yukon, Porcupine, and Chandalar river confluence, mostly within Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge; 40,000 lakes, waterfowl breeding grounds, drying wetlands, and oil and gas exploration.
Zambezi Delta (landform)
Zambezi Delta, Mozambique landform at the Zambezi River's Indian Ocean mouth; 230 km coastline, 18,000 km2 wetlands, Ramsar Marromeu site, buffalo and wattled cranes, altered by Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams.
Zambezi Floodplains
Zambezi Floodplains: seasonally inundated wetlands along the Zambezi River, chiefly the Barotse Floodplain (9,000 km2 Ramsar site) plus Kafue Flats, Chobe, and Mana Pools, sustaining Lozi society, fisheries, and a seasonal flood pulse now altered by Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams.
Zamzam Well (بئر زمزم)
Zamzam Well (بئر زمزم) is a 30.5 m hand-dug well in the Grand Mosque's Mataf, about 21 m east of the Kaaba, feeding the mineral-rich, alkaline Zamzam water, monitored by the Saudi Geological Survey and bottled under the King Abdullah project.