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	A multi agency project funded by US EPA's STAR Program

Identification of geomorphic types

After coastal margin segments and their drainage areas were delineated, the next step was to identify what types of coastal margin ecosystems were present in each segment. This was necessary because the biota, habitats, and responses to stressors of coastal margins varies depending on their geology and morphology. We targeted five coastal "geomorphic" types: high energy coastline, embayments, river-influenced wetlands, protected wetlands, and lacustrine wetlands (click for definitions).

GIS was used to examine digitized topographic maps (1:24,000 digital raster graphics), the National Wetland Inventory, state wetland inventories, Medium Resolution Vector Shoreline data, and Herdendorf et al.'s Great Lakes coastal wetland data* for each of the 762 coastal margin segments. Using these data, the geomorphic types present in each segment were identified.

In this example, several streams come together just before the river defining this segment enters the lake. Most of the coastline of the segment (outlined in blue) is high energy. There is a protected wetland behind a barrier beach, and there are two separate river-influenced wetlands.

* C.E. Herdendorf, S.M. Hartley, and M.D. Barnes (eds.). 1981. Fish and wildlife resources of the Great Lakes coastal wetlands within the United States. FWS/OBS-81/02-v1-6. Six volumes specific to each Great Lake. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fort Snelling, MN.