TRANSCRIPT:
Hello this is Dr. Tom Mullikin with SCDNR for Into the Wild.
Paddling a Coastal Plain river, you may look over the side and see water the color of dark tea. It can appear mysterious, but that color does not necessarily mean the river is dirty.
Blackwater rivers flow through swamps and forests filled with leaves, bark, and other plant material. As that material breaks down, natural compounds called tannins dissolve into the water and stain it brown. The same process gives a cup of tea much of its color.
Against that dark water, white sandbars and the pale trunks of cypress trees seem even brighter. The next time you stand beside a blackwater river, look beyond the color. You are seeing the chemistry of an entire forest carried slowly downstream.