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WEATHER
Swamps and Peatlands
Ecoregion
in
Atlantic Coastal Plain
,
NC
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The Dismal Swamp (63c) is a large, forested wetland with extensive organic deposits that is now a national wildlife refuge. The Dismal Swamp ecoregion is nearly flat, poorly drained, and is underlain by lagoonal strata and impermeable clays (Oaks and Coch, 1963, 1973; Oaks and others, 1974a; Levy, 1979). Thick peat deposits are characteristic and extensive. Elevations range from about 15 to 20 feet. The Dismal Swamp together with the Everglades and the Okefenokee Swamp contain the largest peat and muck deposits on the Atlantic seaboard south of Maryland (Hunt, 1974). The Dismal Swamp is critical habitat for several vulnerable mammals, including the threatened Dismal Swamp subspecies of the southeastern shrew (Terwilliger and Tate, 1994). Soils are largely Histosols and formed under saturated or very poorly-drained conditions; they are derived from organic material and are very acidic. Surface water is also highly acidic, far more so than in surrounding ecoregions. The largest lake in Virginia, Lake Drummond, is located in The Dismal Swamp ecoregion and has a pH of 4.0-5.0. Few fishes are adapted to this high level of acidity and, as a result, the Dismal Swamp (63c) is depauperate in fish species; some cutoff pools are ultra acidic and may not support fish life (Jenkins and Burkhead, 1993 (1994)).
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