WEBVTT - What Created the Carolina Bays? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.320 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:09.080 Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogebon here. But when the Wright 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.080 Brothers gave us the engine powered airplane in the early 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.960 twentieth century, they didn't just give us a new way 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.079 to get around. A flight also gave us an entirely 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:21.720 different perspective on the things around us, or specifically, the 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:26.000 things below us. From above, people became tiny specks, and 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.440 fields looked like the tiled squares of a quilt, And 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.440 before long, on the East coast of the United States, 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.720 pilots began noticing something even more interesting. What we once 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:39.800 thought were just simple, isolated ponds and wetlands along the 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.800 Atlantic coast began to be seen as a pattern of 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.360 thousands of egg shaped depressions that were all oriented exactly 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.720 the same way. From above, it almost looks like a 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.240 giant from outer space sneezed all the way from Florida 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.680 to New Jersey, leaving a series of shallow depressions in 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:01.920 his wake. Their origins are still a scientific mystery today, 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:04.679 but these ponds are as important to the landscape now 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.720 as they were millions of years ago. Today, they're most 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:11.480 commonly referred to as Carolina bays, A large number of 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.000 them occur along the coast of North and South Carolina. 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:16.840 For the article, this episode is based on how Stuff 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:20.480 Work spoke with Kyle Barrett, Associate Professor of Wildlife Conservation 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.640 at Clemson University in South Carolina. He said, Carolina Bay 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.520 is the name given to most any wetland along the 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:31.080 eastern coastal plain that has an elliptical shape and is 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:33.880 often isolated from other bodies of water, such as small 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.600 streams or rivers. Carolina bays occur in low spots in 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.360 the landscape, and because they typically only fill up from precipitation, 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.680 they may dry out during the hot and dry portions 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.480 of the year. These elliptical pockets in the landscape are 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:52.400 almost always laid out with their long axis pointing northwest 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.880 to southeast, and it's common for many to cluster together, 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.600 so researchers in the nineteen fifties hypothesized that they were 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.840 the result of an ancient meteor shower. They've used carbon 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:06.040 dating and other techniques to determine their ages, but it 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.760 turns out the Carolina Bays were not all formed at 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.960 the same time. Some were formed tens of thousands of 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:16.000 years apart. Barrett said some wetlands are estimated to be 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.480 over a hundred thousand years old, whereas others may only 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.720 be fifteen thousand years old or less. There isn't any 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:26.160 support for this meteor shower idea since they don't have 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:29.080 the same origin date and no material has been found 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:34.519 in the soil to suggest extraterrestrial formation. The next best hypothesis, 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:39.080 while plus other worldly, is the most likely answer the wind. 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.240 It suggested that during the late Pleistocene period about two 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:46.240 and a half million years ago, very strong southwesterly winds 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:51.200 on ponds caused currents. Those currents washed against the southwest 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.440 and northwest sides of ponds and resulted in sediment deposits 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:59.640 on the northeast and southeast sides. Over time, they formed 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.680 what we now know as the Carolina Bays. At one 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:04.720 point there may have been as many as two hundred 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:10.119 thousand Carolina Bays, but researchers say that nearly of Carolina 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:14.040 Bays have been impacted by agriculture and logging. A human 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.280 impact hasn't just erased a piece of our geological past, 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:21.079 it's also disrupted a delicate ecosystem of marshes that are 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.920 important to many wetlands species like salamanders and frogs in 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:29.280 North America. Barrett explained, Carolina bays, along with other types 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:33.320 of isolated wetlands, offer a wide range of environmental benefits. 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:37.640 Many insects and amphibians are particularly abundant in these wetlands, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.680 since Carolina bays are without fish most of the time. 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.480 Even terrestrial species such as birds and bats are more 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.040 abundant in patches of forest containing a Carolina bay than 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:52.000 equal sized forested areas without one. A Wetlands like the 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.680 Carolina Bays are also essential in preventing flooding and improving 0:03:55.680 --> 0:04:00.200 water quality too. Unfortunately, many bays have been repurposed for 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:04.040 human use, like farmlands, the development of homes or businesses, 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:08.080 or expanded into ponds. Any wetlands that aren't near a 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.360 permanent stream or river, Barrett says, are not protected by 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.880 the Clean Water Act. Barrett said for this reason, if 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.600 you look at aerial imagery on Google Maps, for example, 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.000 you'll see loads of elliptical shapes along the coast of 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.680 the Carolinas that used to be wetlands but are now 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.320 filled in for agriculture. The result is that wildlife takes 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:31.200 on the burden of wetland loss. However, Barrett suggests an 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:35.279 expanded interpretation of the Clean Water Act could protect important 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.400 wetland locations, and he said, I don't know that every 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:42.000 isolated wetland needs to be federally protected. That seems like 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.440 it could create an unreasonable burden for many landowners. But 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.440 I do think a broader interpretation of the Clean Water 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.840 Act would help save many important isolated wetlands. The States 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:56.520 could also enact protections that better address local issues related 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.279 to wetland loss. Carolina Bays are just one exam bull 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.359 of Earth's natural mysteries that are important elements of our 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:07.000 North American ecosystem. When land is filled in for pasture 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:11.560 or crops, it doesn't just take away important habitats wetland species. 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:14.960 It also disrupts the balance of water flux and natural 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:19.760 flooding protections, which is bad for our homes and livelihoods too. Furthermore, 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.760 without these wetland habitats, we miss out on some of 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:27.080 the most biologically varied ecosystems in North America. Barrett said, 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.799 many people don't have an opportunity to see the incredible 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.680 amphibian and reptile diversity we have in the southeast, but 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.520 these wetlands, along with others in the region, are an 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.960 incredibly important home to these species. Visiting these wetlands can 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.680 open your eyes and ears when the frogs are calling 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.880 to some of the underappreciated gems of the Eastern Us. 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.320 One rare species, just for example, that inhabits the Carolina 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:56.120 Bays is twenty five different types of carnivorous plants. The 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.599 Carolinas are the only places where these insect eating plants, 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:09.640 like the sund and picture plant grow naturally. Today's episode 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.720 is based on the article what Caused the Mysterious Carolina 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.760 Bays on how stuff Works dot Com written by Allison Troutner. 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.440 Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:20.240 with how stuff Works dot Com, and it is produced 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.239 by Tyler Playing. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.359 Visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:27.720 listen to your favorite shows.