What’s a mat?

It is quite common to meet a mat when you work in hydrology, but what is a mat? Is it the same as a swamp? Well now we will define it better, to begin we will review Wikipedia that tells us:n

The term estuary is used in several ecological and geographical contexts to designate swamp conditions generally in flat areas with imperfect drainage.nnAs estuary is also designated to a large marsh extension that is usually filled with water by rain (negation) or by overflowing a river or lagoon during the rising (flooding)

nThen in simple terms to explain, the concept of “ester” corresponds to swamp conditions in flat areas with imperfect drainage. However the definition does not end there, since a estuary can also be a swampy soil due to filtration of water from a river or lagoon, even for precipitations that do not filter well, generating marshy conditions and giving rise to a estuary.nnNo, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

Image: Estero Pocuro, Chile.

It is important to mention that the term also has other meanings, which depend on the geographical and ecological context of which it is located, for example:

nt
• El Iberá, Argentina : They define it as a permanent lagoon (including semi-permanent) of low depth and with little surface of free water and no movement.

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• Venezuela and Colombia: They define it as the depressions that exist in the area of Los Llanos, in the Orinoco river basin. Depressiones that receive water from rainfall in winter, reserving water for later droughts.

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• Spain : They define it as artificial lakes of salt water, made precisely for the exploitation of salt.

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We hope this entry has been helpful, we invite you to know more about hydrology on our site.nnSource: http://geography.laguia2000.com/