Antioch Bay, NC
Antioch Bay, a Carolina Bay in Hoke County NC, is 1km across on the major axis, and has 42 acres of Cypress savanna with a diverse groundcover and an open canopy. Most of the bay is a dedicated nature preserve under the ownership of The Nature Conservancy.
Antioch bay was the subject of September 1997 Smithsonian Magazine article "The Riddle of the Carolina Bays" by Kevin Krajick. LINK
The bay conforms well the the common _bay_ archetype shape, and presents an orientation similar to other bays in the area. The bay has a multiple-rim "bow shock wave" at the southeastern end. I interpret this to be a momentum artifact of the bays creation, generated while the bay rims sands were still in a state of liquefaction.
uTube user PaleoTravels* has posted a video of the interior of Antioch Bay. LINK
Antioch Bay is featured in the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program's inventory of the significant natural areas of Hoke County, NC. LINK
Antioch Bay is the best example of a clay-based Carolina bay in the state and one of the best in the country. It combines large size, excellent quality natural community, and high ranked populations of numerous rare plants and animals. In all, ten rare plants and seven rare animals have been documented, including one Federally Endangered (FE), Michaux’s sumac (Rhus michauxii), and two Federal Species of Concern (FSC), Boykin’s lobelia (Lobelia boykinii) and awned meadow-beauty (Rhexia aristosa). At least sixteen species of amphibians breed here.
The Cypress Savanna natural community in Antioch Bay is considered the finest example of this rare habitat in North Carolina. Antioch Bay, Dial Bay, and Plum Thicket form a complex that is critical to long-term viability of flora and fauna, especially for amphibians which require wetlands for breeding and uplands for the non-breeding months.
Antioch bay was the subject of September 1997 Smithsonian Magazine article "The Riddle of the Carolina Bays" by Kevin Krajick. LINK
The bay conforms well the the common _bay_ archetype shape, and presents an orientation similar to other bays in the area. The bay has a multiple-rim "bow shock wave" at the southeastern end. I interpret this to be a momentum artifact of the bays creation, generated while the bay rims sands were still in a state of liquefaction.
uTube user PaleoTravels* has posted a video of the interior of Antioch Bay. LINK
Antioch Bay is featured in the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program's inventory of the significant natural areas of Hoke County, NC. LINK
Antioch Bay is the best example of a clay-based Carolina bay in the state and one of the best in the country. It combines large size, excellent quality natural community, and high ranked populations of numerous rare plants and animals. In all, ten rare plants and seven rare animals have been documented, including one Federally Endangered (FE), Michaux’s sumac (Rhus michauxii), and two Federal Species of Concern (FSC), Boykin’s lobelia (Lobelia boykinii) and awned meadow-beauty (Rhexia aristosa). At least sixteen species of amphibians breed here.
The Cypress Savanna natural community in Antioch Bay is considered the finest example of this rare habitat in North Carolina. Antioch Bay, Dial Bay, and Plum Thicket form a complex that is critical to long-term viability of flora and fauna, especially for amphibians which require wetlands for breeding and uplands for the non-breeding months.
- Index #: 139316_4578
- Location: 34.863239161831586,-79.19532579440423
- Major: 0.98 km . . . Minor: 0.67 km
- Eccentricity: 0.73
- Area: 52.07 hectares
- Bearing: 135.69º
- Elevation: 64.22 m
- Archetype: bay
- Effective Diameter: 814.232 m
Copyright 2018 by Michael Davias