Low-lying rural areas near coasts will bear the brunt of sea-level rise, analysis of Chesapeake Bay maps indicates

Median elevation of Chesapeake Bay watersheds
(Limnology and Oceanography graphic)

"A new analysis using highly detailed elevation maps of the Chesapeake Bay suggests that North America's extensive areas of low-lying rural land will allow coastal marshes to persist or even expand as salty water creeps upward into what are now forests and farmland," Science Daily reports.

According to the study, recently published in Limnology and Oceanography Letters, more than 600 square miles of low-lying land in the Chesapeake region—more than 75% of it rural—will become marshland by 2100. "The challenge for North American landowners and governments will be to equitably manage the conversion of what is now mostly privately owned, income-producing rural uplands into coastal wetland habitats whose value lies mainly in providing publicly valued ecosystem services such as flood protection and the nurture of fish and bird populations." David Malmquist reports for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Rising sea levels will affect more than the Chesapeake. Here's an interactive tool showing which parts of North America could be submerged at different sea levels (presumably, low-lying lands near such areas could also become marshy).