table o 



N.C. DOCUMENTS 



CLEARINGHOUSE 



contents JUN 23 1994 



N.C. STATE LIBRARY 



Features raleigh 



A Haven for Horses: Horse Lore Steers 

 Debate Over Outer Banks Herds 



Depending on whom you ask, the feral horses on the Outer 

 Banks are a historic link to 14th-century Spanish explorers or 

 recent arrivals from the early 20th century. Theories of their 

 origins abound, but free-lance writer Sarah Friday Peters discovers 

 one certainty. People love the footloose horses that roam a 

 175-mile stretch of barrier islands from the Virginia line to Carrot 

 Island. Peters explores their past and their uncertain future as 

 development and other coastal activities close in on the horses' 

 once spacious sanctuaries 2 



Uncovering History: 

 Fossils are Keys to the Past 



From fossils we can reconstruct a picture of what life was 

 like millions of years ago — how plants and animals looked, what 

 was predator and what was prey. Free-lance writer Natalie Eason 

 Hampton explores fossil remains on the Coastal Plain of North 

 Carolina and explains how to collect fossil plants, seashells, bones 

 and teeth ranging from a few thousand to 80 million years old. 

 Sometimes these fossil finds are remains of marine creatures — 

 sharks, whales, seals, fish and shellfish — representative of times 

 when the ocean covered the Coastal Plain. Other fossils are bones 

 and teeth of land-based animals — dinosaurs, sloths, mastodons, 

 mammoths and horses — indicative of periods when sea level 

 was lower 10 



On a Fossil Hunt 



The fossilized bones of dinosaurs that tower in museum 

 showrooms inspire awe in children and adults alike. But museums 

 aren't the only safekeepers of fossils — just check the soil under 

 your feet in North Carolina's Coastal Plain. There, you can find 

 the fossilized remains of plants and animals that shared our state 

 shores with dinosaurs, and even some that lived before these 

 giants. Free-lance writer Natalie Eason Hampton explores the best 



fossil-finding sites in coastal North Carolina 18 



Departments 



From Sound to Sea: 



Cooking up an Estuary 21 



Field Notes: 



The Chemistry of Soft-Shell Crabs 22 



Marine Advice: 



North Carolina Examines its Coastal Management Tools . . 23 

 Aft Deck 24 



COASTWATCH 1 



