Relations Between Soil Morphology and Water‐Table Levels on a Dissected North Carolina Coastal Plain Surface

Abstract Depth to water table in Typic Paleudults decreases away from the dissected edge of the geomorphic surface in east central North Carolina. This relation is linear in log log form and statistically highly significant for 19 of 22 time periods tested. The greatest changes in water‐table depths and soil morphology are within the first 0.15 to 0.3 km from the surface edge. Deep water tables are associated with thick A2 horizons and fine‐textured B horizons. The shallow water tables are associated with thin A2 horizons, low‐contrast mottling, and presence of Be bodies. This close association between water‐table depths and soil morphology is interpreted as indicating that landscape dissection, acting through its influence on water‐table depths, is one of the driving forces in genesis of North Carolina Coastal Plain soils.