from the earlier period of deposition. Similarly, the next lower 

 series of ridges in the Sand Banks and in the area south of Eure 

 were deposited or reworked during this period. These areas may have 

 been vegetated with salt marsh during this time, since the coast- 

 line was nearer than at present, and the area would have likely 

 been a brackish estuary similar to that of the present James River. 

 Comparable modern sand deposits can be seen there, and around the 

 shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay, the embayed river valley of the 

 ancestral Susquehannah River., 



This period was followed by a series of four stillstands of 

 the sea before the close of the Sangamon around 40,000 years BP. 

 Relative elevations of sea level during these stages were +17, 

 +15, +6 and +2 ft above present sea level. The lower ridges of 

 sand in the Sand Banks area and the various islands in Chowan 

 Swamp were probably deposited or reworked to their modern 

 positions during this time. 



There are two prominent meander bends of the Chowan River 

 along the southern margin of the county. One of these, south of ' 



Eure, inundated Fort Island and carved the channel separating it 

 from the uplands to the north. The other, more striking bend, 

 reached as far as Gatesville, inundating Landing Ridge and 

 carving the shoreline nearly to NC 137 just west of Gatesville. 

 SR 1111 from Gatesville to the new landing on the Chowan, traverses 

 this old river meander, now filled with swamp forest. Dating of 

 these features is difficult, but the manner in which they 

 truncate some of the sand deposits suggests that they occurred in 

 the late Sangamon, around 40,000 years ago (although there is a ,g^ 

 chance that this may have taken place much more recently, in the t 

 past 3,000 years). 



There appears to have been little change in the general i:i 



geomorphology of the Chowan Sand Ridge since that time. During « 



the Wisconsin, the Chowan River became entrenched in its present '' 

 valley, and the dendritic drainage patterns of the smaller 

 streams in the county were extended to their present development. 



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