Cataract_bog
Cataract bog
Type of wetland
A cataract bog is a rare ecological community formed where a permanent stream flows over a granite outcropping. The sheeting of water keeps the edges of the rock wet without eroding the soil; in this precarious location no tree or large shrub can maintain a roothold. The result is a narrow, permanently wet, sunny habitat.
While a cataract bog is host to plants typical of a bog, it is technically a fen. Bogs get water from the atmosphere, while fens get their water from groundwater seepage.[1]
Cataract bogs inhabit a narrow, linear zone next to the stream and are partly shaded by trees and shrubs in the adjacent plant communities.[2] Algae growing on the rocks can make the surface slippery and dangerous for those exploring a cataract bog.[3]