the past 10,000 years, peat nas been forming in blocked drainages, 

 Carolina bays and river floodplains; under swamp forests, pocosins 

 and marshes (Otte, 1981). Of these, however, only floodplain and 

 coastal marsh peats appear to be caused by or directly related to 

 sea level rise and position. Interior Hyde County peats are not 

 a direct result of sea level rise (Otte, 1981). 



Peat has filled many of the topographic lows which were 

 developed on the pre-peat Pamlico surface during the full-glacial 

 lower stand of the sea, and peat deposits have spread beyond the 

 original lows to mantle adjacent uplands. In the Dismal Swamp 

 Oaks and Whitehead (1979) have intensively examined the topography 

 at the base of the peat deposits, and find that a dendritic pattern 

 of stream drainage was present before peat formation began . De- 

 tailed exploration of the sub-peat "topography" has not been con- 

 ducted in Hyde County, but extensive sampling of peat depths, in 

 conjunction with surveys of energy-grade peat deposits, indicates 

 the presence of a sub-peat system of stream channels similar to 

 that in the Dismal Swamp (Ingram and Otte, 1982; Plate I). The 

 regional trend of these peat-filled channels is from northwest 

 to southeast. Stream channel peats are the norm in the vicinity 

 of the Alligator River. 



THE VEGETATION 



Much of mainland Hyde County is comprised of a diversity of 

 wetland habitat types, under the criteria established by Cowardin, 

 et al. (1979) . Uncleared areas of the county, almost without ex- 

 ception, support hydrophytic vegetation, and soils of the county, 

 whether drained or undrained, are predominantly hydric (90 percent 

 or more; SCS, 1973) . Either of these attributes is sufficient to 

 indicate the presence of wetlands. As in most counties of North 

 Carolina's lower Coastal Plain, large areas of wetland soils and 

 vegetation have been cleared and put into agricultural production. 

 This land use was concentrated on wet mineral soils throughout 

 much of the historical period of development, but recently large 

 acreages of peat lands have been intensively developed. 



Scattered areas of better-drained soils, primarily within 

 the Myatt-Bladen and Weeksville-Pasquotank Soils Association, 

 probably supported more mesic vegetation, but virtually all such 

 sites have been cleared for many years. 



The forests of Hyde County, particularly the softwood timber, 

 have been exploited since the colonial period. Timber cutting 

 and similar activities do not necessarily entail a permanent 

 alteration of plant communities, however. Plant communities 

 in the north and northeastern and south and southwestern areas 



