11a. Prose Description of Site 



LOCATION, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY 



Crossing the inner and outer Coastal Plain of North Carolina 

 are several linear scarps, usually trending north-south, which 

 may often be traced for miles across the landscape. These marine 

 scarps mark high stands of the sea during the Pleistocene epoch. 

 Frequently associated with the scarps are elongate linear ridges 

 of sand, interpreted to be beach, dune and overwash fan deposits 

 formed in a marine environment and later abandoned as sea level 

 fell. Scarps and associated ridges, though closely related in 

 their origin, are separate geomorphological features, with ridges 

 generally bounded by scarps on the seaward (east) side. These 

 same scarps also mark the edges of the marine terraces described 

 by early geologists such as Stephenson (1912) : broad, flat, 

 successively lower and younger surfaces which form much of the 

 Coastal Plain, and which represent major sea level fluctuations 

 in response to worldwide uptake and release of water into and 

 out of glacial ice. 



Extending the length of Pamlico County, the Minnesott Ridge 

 and Grantsboro Scarp form one such ridge/scarp system, and to- 

 gether comprise one of the county's most prominent topographic 

 features, still supporting several areas of natural and semi- 

 natural vegetation. 



Two natural areas have been identified in association with 

 the Minnesott Ridge/Grantsboro Scarp. North Minnesott Sand 

 Ridge natural area is located along both sides of NC 306, 

 beginning at the Pamlico/Beaufort County line and extending 

 south about 3.0 miles to "Beltline" road. South Minnesott 

 Sand Ridge also lies on both sides of NC 306, extending about 

 2.0 miles north from the Pamlico Technical College campus. 



For the two natural areas described here, and in general 

 for Pamlico County, the Minnesott Ridge averages slightly more 

 than 0.75 mile wide. Maximal elevations above mean sea level 

 range from 35 to 47 feet, and the entire ridge crest north of 

 Arapahoe is above 40 feet elevation (higher in Beaufort County) . 

 The ridge and scarp trend north-south. To the east the face of 

 the Grantsboro Scarp is steep, falling off rather quickly to 

 elevations of approximately 20 feet. At this toe of the scarp, 

 where the surface of the Pamlico Terrace is encountered, were 

 once two major pocosins systems, Bay City and Light Ground, but 

 these are no longer in a natural condition. A narrow strip of 

 swamp forest also borders the toe of the scarp in places , where 

 mineral sediments wash from the ridge into the adjacent peats 



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