Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
45. Cohen, A. D. 1974b. Petrography and paleoecology of Holocene peats from the
Okefenokee swamp-marsh complex of Georgia. J. Sediment. Petrol. 44:716-726.
Vegetational continuity of the largest marshes of the Okefenokee is probably related to a continuous, uniform rise in water table, the common occurrence of fires, and the consistently greater depths of peat in these regions. Fires played an important role in the history of peat development through not only destroying peat but also by changing the character of vegetation. Fire converts swamps to open marsh, but most forested swamps would benefit from burning through the regular removal of flammable understory. Only during times of extreme drought or change in drainage would both peat and the surface vegetation burn. Fire thus controls the source vegetation in swamps and changes the character of phytogenic sediments by complete oxidation (aching) and production of charcoal, much affecting genesis of coal deposits. [K-L-S]
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U.S. Geological Survey
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