Necturus lewisi Study: Introduction 7 



glomerate of metamorphic and igneous rocks of unequal hardness and 

 resistance to erosive degradation. Within the Piedmont the bedrock is 

 diversified, primarily granite and other crystalline rocks. North of 

 Raleigh the Neuse River flows northeast for a few miles in softer sedi- 

 mentary rocks of Triassic age. 



Neuse River 



The westernmost headwaters of the Neuse River are tributaries of 

 the Eno and Flat rivers, and Deep Creek, in the Piedmont Plateau of 

 southern Person and northeastern Orange counties. Deep Creek conflu- 

 ences with the South Flat River in northern Durham County to form 

 the Flat River, and the Flat and Eno rivers confluence at the Durham- 

 Granville county line northeast of Durham to form the main trunk of 

 the Neuse. Little River, long known as a lewisi site, is a major eastern 

 tributary that rises in southwestern Franklin County and confluences 

 with the mainstem Neuse in central Wayne County, southwest of 

 Goldsboro. Two large western tributaries — Swift and Middle creeks 

 — head in southern Wake County and join the Neuse in the Coastal 

 Plain of central Johnston County, just west of Smithfield. An extensive 

 Coastal Plain tributary — Contentnea Creek — draining over 980 

 square miles and with many lower-order tributaries, confluences with 

 the Neuse River at the junction of Pitt, Lenoir, and Craven counties 

 northeast of Kinston. Paralleling Contentnea Creek to the east is a 

 second Swift Creek, which rises in Pitt County and confluences with the 

 Neuse in Craven County, northwest of New Bern. Another large Coast- 

 al Plain subsystem, draining about 515 square miles, is the Trent River. 

 It heads in southern Lenoir and western Jones counties, and empties 

 into the Neuse River Estuary at New Bern. (See Braswell and Ashton, 

 this issue, for additional comments on the Trent River). All told, the 

 Neuse River system drains a watershed of around 6,200 square miles. 

 Among North Carolina rivers the Neuse River basin is third in area 

 drained, exceeded only by the Cape Fear (ca. 9,200 sq. mi.) and Yadkin 

 (ca. 7,200 sq. mi.) river basins. 



Tar-Pamlico River 



The Tar River has its westernmost headwaters in the Piedmont Pla- 

 teau of eastern Person, southern Granville, and southern Vance coun- 

 ties. Its northeastern headwaters are small streams in southern Warren 

 and Halifax counties. Fishing Creek and its tributaries, which drain an 

 area of about 760 square miles, comprise a major subdrainage to the 

 north and east of the mainstem Tar River. Fishing Creek confluences 

 with the main trunk of the Tar in the Coastal Plain of central Edge- 

 combe County, north of Tarboro. South of the Fishing Creek subdrain- 

 age is an area of some 350 square miles drained by Sandy and Swift 



