Pocosins and Carolina Bays

Pocosins and Carolina bays share several hydrologie and physical characteristics that distinguish them from other forested wetland types; they are nutrient-poor, typically have peat or organic substrates, and are non-alluvial. Pocosin wetlands of the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain are characterized by non-alluvial hydrology, strongly acid soils, and a generally dense shrub layer of species that are generally characterized by evergreen, sclerophyllous leaves. Carolina bays are isolated elliptical depressions that occur across the southeastern Coastal Plain, most abundantly in southern North Carolina and in South Carolina. They range in size from a few hectares up to several thousand hectares, and their long axis is usually, but not always, oriented in a northwest-southeast direction, with a sand rim to the southeast. The distributions of pocosins and Carolina bays overlap, but pocosins typically occur in the lower and middle coastal plain terraces, whereas bays extend further inward into the upper terraces.