Introduction

Late Cenozoic deposits of the Atlantic coastal plain of the southeastern United States include a large volume of very heterogeneous sediments. Heavy mineral-bearing quartz sands are a constituent of these sediments, as are peats, peaty sands and clays, marine and brackish water clays and silts, and shell beds. Herrick (1965) describes the lithology of Pleistocene deposits of coastal Georgia:

Where they have been sampled, many of the sediments have proven to be very productive palynologically. The abundant vegetation of the coastal plain, high water tables, and extensive peat deposits would seem to make such a place an ideal setting for palynological investigations. However, most of the late Cenozoic strata of the Atlantic coastal plain in the Southeast have not been studied. Even surface deposits have received little attention, as was attested to by Davis and Webb (1975). Their attempt to correlate the distribution of modern pollen with extant vegetation failed in the Southeast, because the sampling grid there was ‘extremely sparse.’ Even the distribution of pollen from such common plants as the hollies (Ilex: Aquifoliaceae) could not be mapped, because too few data points existed in the Southeast.