ABSTRACT
The term “flatwoods” was coined by Europeans who settled in the southeastern United States to designate the flat areas that support forests of pine (Ober 1954, Abrahamson and Hartnett 1990). Flatwoods has long been used to designate a landform and a landscape (Caldwell et at. 1958, Watts et al. 1996). This chapter will refer to flatwoods as landforms as they occur on the south Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Lowland landscapes where they are interspersed with other landforms, such as depressions, flood plains, flats, and rises and knolls (Watts and Carlisle 1997). Flatwoods and associated landforms occur in approximately 50% of Florida (Edmisten 1963, Davis 1967, Abrahamson and Hartnett 1990) and in southeastern Georgia. These landforms comprise relatively smaller portions of the landscapes as they extend northward to Virginia and westward to Louisiana. Subtle differences in local relief and somewhat impervious, geologic strata have primarily influenced the evolution of these different landforms. Flatwoods and associated landforms generally have elevations that are less than 100 m above sea level. The climate is characterized by long, humid, warm summers and mild winters with annual rainfall of about 1000 to 1650 mm and average annual temperatures of 13 to 25°C (Soil Conservation Service 1981).
