Pluff mud is simply the mud lining of the salt marsh floor. The decomposition of the sea life makes for a very nutrient rich soil that produces a byproduct sulfur gas which causes the aroma. This combined with the ebb and flow of the tides, which covers the marshes with fresh water that contains silt, creates the slimy, wonderful substance known as pluff mud.
Did you know that Pluff mud is one of the reasons our area beaches, oceans and rivers are not as clear and blue as neighboring states?
It is also home to some of our favorite things in the Lowcountry: oysters! Although the mud does not pose any danger, you may encounter sharp objects such as oyster shells. Oyster shells can slice your feet wide open. In the event you are cut, clean the wound well. Keep in mind that wearing shoes will not help the situation. The muck will remove the shoes from your feet within just a few steps.
Your investment in footwear will be quickly lost. Pluff mud can have a strong smell because it consists of once-living plants, animals, and algae decomposing.
The process of decomposition generates the scent. Things like shrimp, grass, and other sea life break down to make the soft squishy muck. Most would describe the smell to be like rotten eggs because of the hydrogen sulfide released. Keep in mind that it will only smell when the tide is low, and the mud is exposed.
On high tide, you will not see or smell the muck. Consider taking visitors for a walk along the shore at high tide to avoid them from becoming alarmed by the scent. However, the odor does not signal a problem. The smell means the marsh is healthy. Walking on pluff mud is all about motion.
The more you move, the less likely you are to sink deeply into the muck. Always try to remove the stuck limb at a slow pace. The marsh grass technically, cord grass or spartina is the main player, providing erosion control, a little filtration of pollutants, and home for all kinds of coastal critters. The soil that marsh grass grows in is muddy and full of peat, which is made of all that decomposing plant matter.
That lovely scientific process creates the distinctive sweet and acrid aroma that some describe as a rotten egg smell but Lowcountry folks describe as the smell of home. Watch those oysters. You know — the ones that grow in the mud. And speaking of shoes, I sure wish I had a nickel for all the shoes that people have lost when they stepped in pluff mud, sank in up to their knees, and lost a shoe trying to get out. Some people have gotten very creative with pluff mud. There are products out there ranging from t-shirts that are screened and dyed using pluff mud, products to make you look younger, and beer.
Who knew that something so icky, so tenacious, and so smelly could be so loved.
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