RACCOON BLUFF – A RELICT BEACH:
Raccoon Bluff (W) is reached by traveling
eastward from the church (V) along a short road. This eroded
bluff provides an excellent opportunity to examine Pleistocene sediments
(Silver Bluff age 40,000 year B.P. ). Fossil ghost shrimp burrows
found 3 1/2 feet above mean sea level indicate that when these sediments
were deposited the relative sea level was an ocean beach. Poorly
preserved marine shells are found in some sections of the bluff.
Further along the creek bank to the northwest, this grades into old and
less stable dune structures. The northeastern side of the creek is
made of the encroaching modern (Holocene) sediments of Blackbeard Island.
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