Flat Laurel Gap Bog, Pisgah Ridge, North Carolina: Late Holocene development of a high-elevation heath bald
Shafer DS. 1986. Flat Laurel Gap Bog, Pisgah Ridge, North Carolina: Late Holocene development of a high-elevation heath bald. Castanea. 51(1):1-10
Heath balds are relatively open areas at high elevations in the Southern Appalachians dominated by shrubs in the Ericaceae family. The heath balds of Southern Appalachia occur in cool, humid areas with acidic soils of low nutrient content; these have significant accumulations of raw humus. The Flat Laurel Gap Bog is at 1500m in elevation and it is located in Section 2-U along the Blue Ridge Parkway. A sediment sample was collected for detailed pollen and plant macrofossil analysis. Results show a paleoecologic record demonstrating with chronologic controls the antiquity of at least some of the heath balds in the Southern Appalachians.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Shafer, David
- Units
- BLRI
- Keywords
- Flat Laurel Gap Bog (BLRI), heath balds, High Elevation, Paleontology, Plant Studies, Section 2-U Blue Ridge Parkway