For most of the year, the marsh at First Landing State Park in Virginia looks like any other forested wetland—murky and opaque. But during certain times of the year, it transforms into a “rainbow marsh,” shimmering with rainbow colors punctuated by shadows swamp cypresses (Taxodium distichum) i I respiratory rootswhich look like conical humps protruding above the water surface.
Rainbow Swamp is one of many such sites on the Bald Cypress Trail in First Landing State Park. They have been known since English colonists first sailed here in 1607.
Rainbow spots on the surface often remind us of pollution, a similar effect can be seen when, for example, petrol is spilled on the road surface. In this case (fortunately) we are not dealing with an ecological disaster, but a completely natural biological process, which the park employees explained in one of their older posts on social media.
The flat needles of the cypress are up to 2 cm long. At first they are light green, eventually darken, and in autumn they are shed by the tree. When they end up in a swamp, they release the oils they contain during decomposition. These, in turn, form a thin layer on the water surface that reflects sunlight like the aforementioned gasoline. Biological processes in the soil, resulting from the decomposition of iron by bacteria, may also contribute to the rainbow effect.
Rainbow swamps occur in the southeastern United States, specifically in places that overlap with the range of bald cypress trees. Michael Hussey, a retired engineer who owns land on which the swamp is located in Tallahassee, Florida, told the BBC that the flooded forest lights up like a disco ball in mid-February. “I’ve seen it about 10 times in the 40 years I’ve lived here.”
– The longer the water remains undisturbed, the stronger the effect – the park employees added in a Facebook post. When the water begins to move due to the presence of the current, the activity of the wind, the delicate rainbow coating is destroyed.
Source: geekweek.interia.pl
