Every Soil Has A Story

Where would charcoal have come from about 300-350 years ago? What was going on in the Chesapeake Bay region at about that time? Settlers were burning the forests to make room for farms. The residue from those forest fires flowed down into the rivers and creeks and eventually some of it was deposited right in this creek bed and became part of this soil profile. Let's take a look at the horizon below the charcoal layer. When the soil scientists were studying this horizon, they noticed these hard rounded objects. They figured that this horizon was deposited here about 400 - 450 years ago.

What do you think these rounded objects might be?

(If you'd like to go back to the first part of this soil's story, click here.)