of higher sea level. The history of sea level rise and fall which 

 formed the Pamlico surface is complex. About 75,000 yrs. BP (Daniel, 

 1981) , during the Pamlico transgression, the edge of the sea lay in- 

 land to a point now marked by the sandy ridge of the Suffolk Scarp, 

 known as Minnesott Ridge in Pamlico County. The toe of the scarp 

 is now about 20 ft. above modern sea level, and 10-15 miles west of 

 the Pamlico Sound shoreline of the county. During the peak of the 

 Wisconsin glaciation (15,000 yrs. BP) , sea level stood as much as 

 400 ft. below its modern level (Daniel, 1981). Since that period 

 the sea has risen to its present level, and continues to rise today. 



The complex cycle of marine transgressions and regressions has 

 produced differing effects upon the topography of the alternately 

 exposed and submerged surfaces. Rising seas slowed stream erosion 

 by raising stream base level , and planed off or obscured with silts 

 and muds the previous surface features. Falling sea level in con- 

 trast exposed areas of the continental shelf and rejuvenated streams, 

 increasing downcutting and topographic relief. 



The western third of the county is generally on the Chowan 

 marine terrace, the next-oldest of the Coastal Plain marine surfaces. 

 The history of the formation of the Chowan terrace is very similar 

 to that of the younger Pamlico surface. The surface is interpreted 

 as having formed during a higher stand of the sea; probably also 

 involving several transgressions and regressions of the sea. De- 

 posits in the vicinity of Arapahoe, Pamlico County, are interpreted 

 by Mixon and Pilkey (1976) as being of lower Sangamon or pre-Sangamon 

 Interglacial age. They note that researchers have reported a date 

 of "147,000 + 13,000 years BP for a similar stand of sea" in South 

 Carolina (ibid, p. 36) . The Chowan terrace portions of Pamlico 

 County were not submerged during the Pamlico transgression, but 

 did share the increased downcutting by streams during periods of 

 lower sea level. 



The two marine surfaces of Pamlico County are separated by the 

 prominent ridge and scarp known as the Minnesott Ridge and Grants- 

 boro Scarp. This ridge/scarp trends approximately north-south, and 

 along the crest reaches elevations of 47 feet in Pamlico County (60 

 feet to the north in Beaufort County) . Mixon and Pilkey interpret 

 the pair of features as a multi-age "compound feature" representing 

 shorelines and accompanying dunes formed by at least two transgressions 

 of the sea, and younger than the Chowan surface to the west. 



Concurrently with the most recent period of rising sea level, 

 conditions favorable to peat formation have prevailed in Pamlico 

 County and throughout the North Carolina Coastal Plain, in a variety 

 of vegetational and topographic situations. During the past 10,000 

 years, peat has been forming in blocked drainages, Carolina bays and 

 river floodplains; under swamp forests, pocosins and marshes (Otte, 



