Asked by yo

How do wetlands form?

Tributaries flow into rivers.
Runoff travels down the side of a divide.
Water builds up in a depression left by an ice sheet.
Groundwater comes to the surface and floods the land.

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Correct answers:
- Water builds up in a depression left by an ice sheet. (Yes.)
- Groundwater comes to the surface and floods the land. (Yes.)

Quick explanation:
Wetlands form where water collects and stays long enough to create saturated soils and wetland vegetation. Common ways this happens are filling of glacial depressions (kettles), groundwater discharge (springs, seeps, fens), and overbank flooding from rivers. The first choice ("tributaries flow into rivers") by itself is just normal drainage and doesn’t necessarily make a wetland (though river overflow can). The second choice ("runoff travels down the side of a divide") describes water leaving a drainage area and likewise doesn’t typically create persistent wetlands.