Hydrology of the Albemarle-Pamlico region, North Carolina : A preliminary report on the impact of agricultural developments

Extensive agricultural land clearing and drainage operations underway in a 650 square mile part of the Albemarle-Pamlico region--a 1,634 square mile peninsula in North Carolina lying between Albemarle Sound on the North and the Pamlico River on the south--are changing the hydrology of the area.

The artificial drainage system being constructed in the region, although it will probably result in only a slight modification of the natural annual evapotranspiration, overland runoff, and ground-water discharge, will likely result in several important problems.

First, changes in the water quality of the sounds and estuaries resulting from the rapid runoff of storm waters may prove harmful to the fishery resources. Second, lowering of the water table may cause relatively rapid subsidence of the land surface in an irregular pattern in the extensive areas underlain by thick peat deposits as a result of biochemical oxidation, peat fires, and wind.