Peat resources of North Carolina. A progress report

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980

OSTI ID:5043211

Ingram, R L; Otte, L J

This progress report has a summary of the final report on the Light Ground Pocosin work. It is the description of the location of peat deposits, the types of peat found, and their composition and heating values. On other pocosin peat, field data are still being collected on the Pamlimarle peninsula, Dismal Swamp, and Croatan Forest. Preliminary estimates show that there are 360 square miles containing 210 million tons of moisture-free peat in the Pamlimarle peninsula, which is the largest peat reserve in North Carolina. Most of this peat is moderately to highly decomposed with low ash content and with heating values averaging over 10,000 Btu/lb. The Dismal Swamp has about 100 square miles of peatland containing 50 to 75 million tons of moisture-free peat with average thickness of 4 to 5 ft. The Croatan Forest is estimated to have 40 to 50 square miles of peatland containing 25 to 30 million tons of moisture-free peat with an average thickness of 4 to 5 ft. Limited field work has discovered some peat deposits of unknown extent along the lower parts of the Chowan, Roanoke, and Cape Fear rivers. Floodplain peats are often covered by several feet of alluvial sand and mud and often grade laterally into alluvial sand and clays. Ash content is higher than in the pocosin peats. Preliminary work on Carolina Bay Peats shows that many of these bays contain high quality peat up to a maximum thickness of 15 ft. Ash content averages about 4%, and the heating value averages about 10,000 Btu/lb. New figures in this report are two graphs which show the relation of moisture content to bulk density, and the relation of bulk density to depth of selected peats.

• Research Organization: North Carolina Univ., Chapel Hill (USA). Dept. of Geology
• DOE Contract Number: AC01-78ET10159
• OSTI ID: 5043211
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/10159-T2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010600 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Properties & Composition
011000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
ASHES
BULK DENSITY
DENSITY
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MOISTURE
NORTH AMERICA
NORTH CAROLINA
ORGANIC MATTER
PEAT
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RESIDUES
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
SOUTHEAST REGION
USA
WEIGHT