(Lee Otte, 1981 and pers. coram. , 1982). To the west the 

 Minnesott Ridge grades more gradually to the Chowan Terrace , 

 about 5 feet below the ridge crest and ranging from 35 to 40 

 feet above mean sea level. This "rear" edge of the Ridge is 

 topographically less precisely defined than the front or 

 eastern (scarp) edge, being more dissected into a complex 

 system of low swales and islands of upland vegetation. On 

 this western side the partially natural Northwest Pocosin 

 borders the north half of the Minnesott Ridge (see pp. ) . 



Mixon and Pilkey (1976) argue that the Grantsboro Scarp 

 is not strictly equivalent to the well-known Suffolk Scarp 

 alone, but that it is a feature of multiple ages, "as sug- 

 gested by the southward convergency of relict shorelines in the 

 Pamlico Sound area" (p. 37). According to the same authors, 

 the Minnesott sands (which form the Minnesott Ridge) are in 

 part correlative with the Pamlico Terrace to the east (op. 

 cit. , Geologic Map Plate I) . Further summary of the fairly 

 extensive published geologic and geomorphologic interpretive 

 literature is beyond the scope of this report. However, 

 conditions on the Minnesott Ridge natural areas have been 

 strongly affected by the geomorphological origins of the 

 ridge and scarp, particularly the depositional environment 

 in which the Minnesott sands were laid down. The well-sorted, 

 fine to coarse sands of the ancient barrier system have pro- 

 duced the sandy soils on which various pine flatwoods and upland 

 pine natural communities have developed. 



SOILS 



The Minnesott Ridge natural areas are in the Leon-Lynn 

 Haven Soil Association, which characteristically includes poorly 

 drained soils with sand surface layers and sandy hardpan subsoils 

 (SCS 1974, Appendix H) . The soilscape across the Minnesott Ridge 

 and immediately adjacent locations is very diverse, both in 

 arrangement and in soil orders represented. Preliminary mapping 

 of the two natural areas denotes three soil series in three dif- 

 ferent orders: Leon sand, a Spodosol; Tomahawk loamy sand, an 

 Ultisol; and Rutlege mucky loamy fine sand, an Inceptisol. All 

 three of these soil series are present within both natural areas; 

 the mapping units are complexly interfingered on the surface of 

 Minnesott Ridge. 



Additional soil orders are found on either side of the North 

 Minnesott Ridge natural area: Histosols (Dare and Croatan series) 

 to the west in the Northwest Pocosin natural area, and Alfisols 

 (Yonges and Stockade series) to the east, mostly recently logged 

 over. Thus a mile-long transect spanning North Minnesott Ridge 



53 



