Landforms

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An important kind of place Place is defined by physiographic processes--and on the platform we call these “landforms”, and name seven distinct types from mountains to sea, each shaped by distinct physical processes and with a particular ecological potential.

Headwaters - the steep foothill and mountain valleys, where precipitation falls as snow, and forestry is the primary land use. Landslides are a common disturbance.

Lowland Watersheds - Lowland watersheds contain the streams that drain the low foothills and the glacial plateau. These landform are shaped by glaciers and most precipitation falls as rain. Many lowland watersheds are urbanizing rapidly.

Anderson Creek Watershed  •  Bear Creek Watershed  •  Big Beef Creek Watershed  •  Butler Cove Watershed  •  Chambers Creek Watershed  •  Chico Creek Watershed  •  Clallam River Watershed  •  Decker Creek Watershed  •  Dewatto River Watershed  •  Filucy Bay Ecosystem  •  Fishtrap Creek Watershed  •  French Slough Floodplain and Watershed  •  Goldsborough Creek Watershed  •  Green Cove Creek Watershed  •  Hoko River Watershed  •  Indian-Moxlie Creek Watershed  •  Jim Creek Watershed  •  Jimmycomelately Watershed  •  Mission Creek Watershed  •  Newaukum Creek Watershed  •  Pilchuck Creek Watershed  •  Pilchuck River Watershed  •  Port Townsend Ecosystem  •  Pysht River Watershed  •  Quilceda Watershed  •  Rendsland Creek Watershed  •  Salt Creek Watershed  •  Scatter Creek Watershed  •  Schneider Creek Watershed  •  Seabeck Creek Watershed  •  Shine Creek Watershed  •  Snow-Salmon Watershed Ecosystem  •  Sultan River Watershed  •  Tahuya River Watershed  •  Tarboo Creek Watershed  •  Terrell Creek Watershed  •  Thomas Creek Watershed  •  Union River Watershed  •  West Bay Watersheds  •  Woods Creek Watershed

Floodplains - Floodplains form where the larger rivers and streams create and rework valley bottoms filled with their own alluvium. These are the best places for agriculture, the core of Chinook salmon habitat, and where flood risk is highest.

French Slough Floodplain and Watershed  •  Lower Skykomish Floodplain  •  Lower Snohomish River Floodplain  •  Lower Stillaguamish Floodplain  •  North Fork Nooksack Floodplain  •  North Fork Stillaguamish Floodplain  •  Sammamish River Floodplain  •  Skokomish Confluence  •  Snohomish Lord Hill Reach  •  South Fork Nooksack Floodplain  •  South Fork Stillaguamish Floodplain  •  Tolt River Floodplain

River Deltas - Deltas form where large river floodplains enter marine waters. Tidal flows create fluctuating water levels. Most of our deltas have been drained for agriculture, and lie below sea level protected by dikes.

Deschutes Estuary  •  Dosewallips Delta  •  Duckabush Delta  •  Dungeness Delta  •  Duwamish Delta  •  Elwha Delta  •  Hamma Hamma Delta  •  Nisqually Delta  •  Nooksack Delta  •  Puyallup Delta  •  Quilcene Delta  •  Samish Delta  •  Skagit Delta  •  Skokomish Delta  •  Snohomish Delta  •  Stillaguamish Delta  •  The Marshlands

Embayments - Embayments are those protected places along the shoreline where wind waves are muted by aspect or spits, and collect muddy sediments, sometimes forming salt marsh, often at the mouths of streams. Around 800 large embayments have been found on historic maps (Simenstad et al 2011).

Big Beef Estuary  •  Burley Lagoon Ecosystem  •  Chambers Creek Estuary  •  Chico Creek Estuary  •  Clallam River Estuary  •  Dabob Bay Ecosystem  •  Deer Lagoon  •  Drayton Harbor  •  East Bay  •  Edmonds Marsh Ecosystem  •  Fidalgo Bay Ecosystem  •  Filucy Bay Ecosystem  •  Frye Cove  •  Goldsborough Creek Estuary  •  Hoko River Estuary  •  Jimmycomelately Estuary  •  Lynch Cove  •  Padilla Bay  •  Pysht River Estuary  •  Salmon-Snow Coastal Inlet  •  Salt Creek Estuary  •  Sequalitchew Creek Estuary  •  Skookum Inlet  •  Snow-Salmon Watershed Ecosystem  •  Tahuya Estuary  •  Titlow Beach

Beaches - Beaches form where sediment from eroding shorelines are pushed alongshore by waves, creating bluffs, spits and lagoons. Beaches have been valued for residential property since time immemmorial, provide access to the wealth of the sea, but are vulnerable to storms.

Bangor Drift Cell  •  Birch Bay Ecosystem  •  Broad Spit Drift Cell  •  Carkeek to Everett Beach System  •  Cherry Point Driftcell  •  East Dyes Drift Cell  •  East Nooksack Drift Cell  •  Elwha Drift Cell  •  Neill Point East  •  Piner Point West  •  Point Defiance Drift Cell  •  Port Townsend Ecosystem  •  SPU 1008  •  SPU 2071  •  SPU 2086  •  SPU 7086  •  Titlow Beach  •  West Camano Drift Cell

Headlands - Rocky headlands emerge where bedrock is shallow along shoreines, along Juan de Fuca, San Juan Islands, and along the Seattle Fault. These dry stable shorelines contain pockets of beach. Our Bull Kelp forests are concentrated in these systems.

South Lummi Island Headlands

gravel, sand and finer materials moved and sorted by rivers and streams

particles of clay, silt, sand, gravel, or cobble, transported by water, are called sediment.