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I am building a world where there is a big desert and the next biome over is a swamp. The desert goes for miles, and the swamp is also huge. I know that some biomes do not go together, such as a Polar Tundra and an African Sahara. But I also know that if they are close enough, they make a sub-biome that is changing into the other biome. But I am having trouble with how to make a believable change between the desert and the swamp. I need to know about biomes that could fit in between these two and what the land needs to look like as it's changing. Deserts have almost no water and swamps have a lot, so this really confuses me. Real world examples would help a whole lot.

(Edit: I already am aware of this post, but I need to know how to implement it.)

lightofdeanthomas
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1 Answers1

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Watch a documentary on the Okavango

The Okavango river in Botswana dumps millions of gallons of water into the desert at the end of the wet season in the Angola Highlands. Fortunately for you, this is one of BBC's favorite things to do documentaries on. There is Africa 'Kalahari' episode and Nature's Greatest Events 'Great Flood' episode, both of which are on Netflix. There are other series as well (that link has some good pictures too); I'm sure availability depends on what country you are in.

In any case, the dry season is dusty with a few scattered trees (without leaves). In the deepest water channels, where water might linger a few months into the dry season, trees may still have leaves. By the end of the dry season, any residual grass is dead and dry, and usually burns off in wildfires.

Then water, and life, pours down from the mountains. The water soaks into the ground at first but then starts to build up. Sandy patches are next to pools of water, which rapidly develop grass. Formerly dead trees burst into bloom.

In any case, you basically can see the time lapse change between desert and swamp and back. Dust and sand give way to pools of water, grass and life. This:

enter image description here

becomes this:

enter image description here

kingledion
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