Pic(k) of the Week: Salt Marsh Ghost

Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Framed by saw palmetto, a lone ghost tree stands, sered, in a salty tidal marsh of the Matanzas Inlet estuary.

St. Johns County (Palm Coast), Florida, USA.
9 September 2026.

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Matanzas Inlet

The Matanzas Inlet is a narrow, partially saltwater channel in the U.S. state of Florida — 14 miles (23 km) south of the city of St. Augustine — between two barrier islands and the mainland, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the southern end of the Matanzas River estuary, comprising a coastal scrub environment and maritime forest. Part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Matanzas Inlet is the last remaining natural, or undredged, inlet on Florida's Atlantic coast.

— Wikipedia.

Ghost Tree

A ghost forest is a coastal woodland characterized by widespread tree mortality as a result of saltwater intrusion and land submergence. Ghost forests commonly form when sea level rise, tectonic subsidence, or storm-driven coastal flooding increases soil salinity beyond the tolerance of freshwater tree species.The formation of ghost forests changes the surrounding ecology, often changing the deciduous forests into saltwater marshes or tidal wetlands.

— Wikipedia.

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Weather Report: Blackthorn Rose

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• 📷 In the image, the Matanzas Inlet can be seen just beyond and to the right of the 'ghost' tree.


• Album: Mysterious Traveller
  Label: Columbia (recorded: 1973, 1974 / released: 1974)
  
• Musicians:
  
  • Joe Zawinul – piano, melodica
  • Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone, composer

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• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays.
• Photo 40 of 52, for year 2026. See a larger, hi-res version on Flickr: here.
  


• Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
• Lens: Olympus M.45mm F1.8.
• Settings: 45 mm | 1/2000 sec | ƒ/5.6 | ISO 400.
• Edit: Photoshop Elements 15, Nik Collection (2016).


• Image licensed via Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Reproduction permitted, but with these provisos:
  • only in unadapted form
  • attribution required (e.g., Cizauskas on Flickr)
  • commercial use prohibited (except with explicit permission).
  
  
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