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 Pamlico County peats are not a direct result 

 of sea level rise (Otte, 1981). 



Peat has filled many of the topographic lows which were de- 

 veloped on the pre-peat Pamlico and Chowan surfaces during the 

 full-glacial lower stand of the sea, and peat deposits have spread 

 beyond the original lows to mantle adjacent higher ground. In the 

 Dismal Swamp Oaks and Whitehead (1981) 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 for- 

 mation began. Such detailed exploration of the sub-peat "topography" 

 has not been conducted in Pamlico County, but extensive sampling of 

 peat depths, in conjunction with surveys of energy-grade peat de- 

 posits, indicates that a somewhat similar but less complex stream- 

 dissected surface is present beneath the Light Grounds Pocosin peat 

 deposit (Ingram and Otte, 1980) . Ingram and Otte found a north- 

 trending channel to be the site of original peat formation, with 

 peat eventually spreading into a broad, shallow depression in which 

 the stream channel lay. Sub-peat features of other Pamlico County 

 peat deposits have been less thoroughly studied, but probably re- 

 semble the pattern of the Light Grounds Pocosin. 



On the basis of soils data, pocosin peat deposits occupy about 

 12 percent of Pamlico County. The rest of the county - mineral sur- 

 faces and marsh peats - also originated principally as a result of 

 the influences of Pleistocene , recent , and ongoing sea level fluctu- 

 ations. 



SOILS 



The Soils Associations of Pamlico County have been mapped on a 

 General Soil Map by the US Soil Conservation Service (SCS, 1972) ; 

 and more recently the entire county has been surveyed and mapped 

 by SCS personnel. The latter survey is available in preliminary 

 form (SCS, 1981) and the State SCS Office made available to us a 

 manuscript version of the final Pamlico County Soil Survey (SCS, 

 in manuscript) . Because considerable refinement of soils informa- 

 tion has been accomplished since 1972, we use the most recent (manu- 

 script) source in the following soils discussion. In the main body 

 of this report the equivalent Soil Association from the more readily 

 available 1972 General Soil Map is given for each natural area. 



