In geology, a backswamp is a type of depositional environment commonly found in a floodplain. It is where deposits of fine silts and clays settle after a flood. These deposits create a marsh-like landscape that is often poorly drained and usually lower than the rest of the floodplain. When another flooding event occurs, the water level rises over the levees and floods the floodplains. As the flooding event stops, the water and all of the sediments it carried cannot drain out back into the river’s main channel due to the levees, a backswamp forms.