Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F101XY011NY
Shallow Till Upland
Last updated: 10/03/2024
Accessed: 11/13/2024
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 increases 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 broad plains, hills, ridges, and knolls. Slopes range from 0 to 70 percent.
Soils:
The site consists of shallow, excessively drained to well drained soils formed in loamy till underlain by limestone or calcareous shale bedrock. Representative soils are Benson and Farmington mapped within MLRA 101.
Vegetation:
The reference community is cross-referenced with Mixed Hardwood Limestone Woodland (NatureServe: CEGL005059) and Sugar Maple - Chinquapin Oak Forest
(Natureserve: CEGL005010).
Associated sites
F101XY012NY |
Till Upland Till Uplands occur in less shallow areas |
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Similar sites
F101XY012NY |
Till Upland Till uplands have deeper soils. |
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Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree |
(1) Acer saccharum |
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Shrub |
(1) Ostrya virginiana |
Herbaceous |
(1) Waldsteinia fragarioides |
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