HYDROGRAPHY OF THE MARINE WATERS 



57 



formation is available on such questions but to ignore them may cause great 

 losses. 



Nature of the Bottom 



In the ocean north of Cape Hatteras the bottom is said to be rather sandy 

 close to shore and more of a mud with rough areas due to shell accumulations, 

 etc., at the greater depths offshore (Pearson, 1932). Somewhat the same 

 conditions prevail south of the Cape except that rocks are scattered over the 

 area, especially to the southward and offshore. Little is known as to the 

 nature of these rocks to the south and the corals and coralline algae which, 

 in part at least, build them. The specific locations of some of these scattered 

 bottom reefs have been described by Radcliffe (1914) in a discussion of the 



TABLE 9 



A Summary by Areas of the Bottom Characteristics of North Carolina Sounds * 



*FromWinslow (1889). 



