Abstract
Peat stratigraphic and pollen analytical studies of the upper layers of peat and Featherbed Moss, where erosion of the peat is occurring as a result of stream action, show that this erosion has proceeded on at least two distinct stages A very slow headward extension of the streams into the peat blanket along pre-established lines of weakness (the pre-glacial stream channels) beginning c. 3000 B.C. and continuing into historic times; and a very rapid extension of gullying after c. A.D. 1770.