[Renfield]

This is simple to answer. They are all pointing toward the coastline...i.e., downhill. Remember, most of these formed when the sea level was higher...imagine the coastline of the southeastern U.S., with Florida and lower coastal areas of the Carolinas and Georgia just lopped off. The coasline then was a gentle curve (with good topo or geologic maps, you can follow the old scarps which represented sea level stands at different eras). These bays are oriented toward the old coastlines.

I read an interesting paper several years ago about some reseach that had been done in Hellhole Bay, just inland from Charleston, SC. The geologists took a drill rig and ran deep-boring transects from the upland, across the bay, and back up the upland on the other side. The borings revealed that, during a previous low-water stand during the late Pliocene, the area under Hellhole Bay had been a river. During high-water stands (sea advancements) of the Pleistocene, the area had infilled with a new fluviomarine terrace. So they repeated the experiment on some other bays in the region, and found the same result. Now, you may not know this, but these infilled paleochannels act as conduits for groundwater flow to the ocean. The coastal plain is chock-full of these infilled paleochannels. Since they act as conduits for groundwater flow, it's not too much of a stretch to assume that they provide opportunities for surficial groundwater discharge.

Indeed, if you look at good aerial photographs of the coastal plain (especially in the drainages of the Cape Fear or Pee Dee rivers), you will see that Carolina bays are not only oriented individually "downhill" (toward the coastline), but these bays form lines toward the coast. The largest bays tend to be at the foot of old marine scarps; then there are progressively smaller bays stretching coastward, in lines, from the larger bays, across the toe of the scarp and down along the old tread of the fluviomarine terrace. Then, when the next scarp is reached, there is an interruption in the presence of bays along the shoulder and backslope of the scarp, but the pattern repeats along the toe and tread. It's really quite striking when you realize the pattern.

By the way, some people have been fooled by the presence of bay rims, into assuming that the bays were formed by impacts of meteorites or comets. I recently read a paper which conclusively disproved that. The researchers used palynological evidence (Palynology being the study of ancient pollen, and other microfossils) to determine the ages of bay rims and the bays they encircled. It turns out that the bays are contemporaneous with the surrounding geomorphic surface (meaning that the bays formed at the time the sea withdrew from the area), whereas, the bay rims all dated from the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary (about 14000-13000 years ago). Now, bays are found on marine treads that date from the Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary (65 million years ago) to the upper Pleistocene (on some surfaces as young as 45,000 years ago, if I remember South Carolina geology correctly). But all the rims are of the same age. It should be pretty easy for you to figure out why; if you can't, let me know and I'll explain it.

[blam]

"This is simple to answer. They are all pointing toward the coastline...i.e., downhill. "

Okay, good answer, I understand.

I was in the Charleston area in the early 60's and while walking along a marshy area of the bay, I found a two inch long, black shark tooth. I was told that they are common and are about 50 million years old.