IIA. Prose description of site. 



In the Dismal Swamp, just east of the mouth of Corapeake 

 Swamp, lies a 30 acre freshwater marsh. It is unique within the 

 geographic region and its origin is an enigma. 



The vegetation is a mixture of hydrophytic grasses and 

 other wetland herbs. From the comments of early travelers, 

 seeking a night's pasture for horses, any type of grassland may 

 have been rare in the original forests of this area. The existing 

 marsh is a small remnant of a much larger wetland, rapidly being 

 invaded by red maple, which, if unmanaged, will convert the 

 community to a swamp forest within a few more years. 



The marsh lies at an elevation of about 20 feet in the 

 Dismal Swamp proper. It may be significant, however, that it 

 occurs at the mouth of Corapeake Swamp, just east of the point at 

 which it enters the Dismal. This small swamp originates in 

 Virginia, about 8 miles to the northwest. Beginning at some time 

 in the pasts it has downcut through the Suffolk Scarp, perhaps 

 to a level slightly below that of the swamp floor today. This 

 cutting may have begun in the early Illinoian glacial period 

 after recession of the Yarmouth sea. The land has been exposed to 

 erosion since that time, between 145,000 and 400,000 years ago 

 (Daniels et al. 1978). 



The greatest depth of channel cutting should have occurred 

 by the late Wisconsin. However, topographic contours at the base 

 of the Dismal Swamp peat indicate that Corapeake Swamp cut no 

 deeper than to an elevation of about 16 to 20 feet above sea 

 level. This is not unexpected, since the flat, sandy plain 

 forming the basal surface of the Dismal would have acted as base 

 level for the small streams to the west. The flat bottom of 

 Corapeake Swamp suggests that downcutting largely ceased after 

 base level was reached, and subsequent erosion was limited to 

 lateral expansion of the small floodplain. 



While sub-peat contours of much of the floor of the Dismal 

 have been mapped, 200 years of drainage, and consequent deep peat 

 burns, may have disrupted presettlement drainage patterns within 

 the peat formation beyond the possibility of reconstruction. The 

 pre-peat drainage from Corapeake Swamp appears to have been to 

 the Pasquotank River. However, the mouth is near the center of 

 the Dismal and is remote from any well-established drainage 

 system. Topographic variation in the area is so subtle today 

 that a slight accumulation of peat in the middle of the swamp 

 might have been sufficient to divert flow to the north toward 

 Lake Drummond or south to the Perquimans River. The characteris- 

 tic of pocosins to accumulate peat in their centers makes this 

 supposition a reasonable possibility. Examination of color 

 infrared aerial photography suggests that the most likely 

 drainage, after peat buildup in the Holocene, would have been 



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