Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F101XY003NY
Low Floodplain Depression
Last updated: 10/03/2024
Accessed: 11/21/2024
General information
Provisional. A provisional ecological site description has undergone quality control and quality assurance review. It contains a working state and transition model and enough information to identify the ecological site.
MLRA notes
Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): 101X–Ontario-Erie Plain and Finger Lakes Region
Most of the MLRA is a nearly level to rolling plain. Low remnant beach ridges are commonly interspersed with a relatively level lake plain in the northern part of the area. Drumlins (long, narrow, steep-sided, cigar shaped hills) are prominent in an east-west belt in the center of the area. The Finger Lakes Region consists of a gently sloping to rolling till plain. Elevation is 330 to 1,310 feet increasing gradually from the shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Oneida to the Allegheny Plateau, the southern border of the area. The bedrock underlying this area consists of alternating beds of limestone, dolomite, sandstone, and shale of Ordovician to Devonian age. Most of the surface of the area is covered with glacial till or lake sediments. The texture of the lake sediments is silt, loam, or sand. Ancient beaches, formed at different lake levels, form ridges along the shoreline of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Stratified drift (eskers and kames) and glacial outwash deposits are in many of the valleys. A large drumlin field occurs in the Finger Lakes Region.
Classification relationships
USDA-NRCS (USDA, 2006):
Land Resource Region (LRR): L — Lake States Fruit, Truck Crop, and Dairy Region
Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): 101— Ontario-Erie Plain and Finger Lakes Region
USDA-FS (Cleland et al., 2007)
Province: 211 — Northeastern Mixed Forest Province (in part)
Section: 211J — Mohawk Valley (in part)
Subsection: 211Jd — Mohawk Valley
Province: 222 — Midwest Broadleaf Forest Province (in part)
Section: 222I — Erie and Ontario Lake Plain
Subsection: 222Ia — Lake Erie Plain
222Ib — Erie-Ontario Lake Plain
222Ic — Eastern Ontario Till Plain
222Id — Cattaraugus Finger Lakes Moraine and Hills
222Ie — Eastern Ontario Lake Plain
Ecological site concept
Landform/Landscape Position:
The site occurs on flood plains, depressions, swamps, and marshes adjacent to low gradient streams and rivers. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent.
Soils:
The site consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that have formed in recent alluvium derived predominantly from siltstone, shale, and limestone.along streams. Representative soils are Sloan, Wallkill, Warners, and Wayland within MLRA 101.
Vegetation
The reference community coincides with NY natural heritage community: Floodplain forest and NatureServe’s Silver Maple / Sensitive Fern - Small-spike False Nettle Floodplain Forest (CEGL006176).
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Associated sites
| F101XY002NY |
Low Floodplain Low Floodplain sites are also flooded but better drained. |
|---|---|
| F101XY001NY |
High Floodplain High Floodplain sites are less flooded in the floodplain landscape profile |
Similar sites
| F101XY007NY |
Wet Outwash Wet Outwash sites are also poorly and very poorly drained but less flooded |
|---|---|
| F101XY014NY |
Wet Till Depression Wet Till Depression sites are less flooded. |
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
(1) Acer saccharinum |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
Not specified |
| Herbaceous |
(1) Boehmeria cylindrica |
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