Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F111XE502OH
Wet Till Ridge
Last updated: 9/11/2024
Accessed: 12/22/2024
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): 111X–Indiana and Ohio Till Plain
111E – Indiana and Ohio Till Plain, Eastern Part. Most of this area is in the Till Plains Section of the Central Lowlands Province of the Interior Plains. The northeast tip of the area is in the Southern New York Section of the Appalachian Highlands. The entire area has been glaciated. It is dominated by ground moraines that are broken in places by kames, lake plains, outwash plains, terraces, and stream valleys. Narrow, shallow valleys commonly are along the few large streams in the area. Elevation ranges from 580 to 1,400 feet (175 to 425 meters), increasing gradually from west to east. Relief is mainly a few meters, but in some areas hills rise as much as 100 feet (30 meters) above the adjoining plain.
The extent of the major Hydrologic Unit Areas (identified by four-digit numbers) that make up this MLRA is as follows: Scioto (0506), 33 percent; Muskingum (0504), 31 percent; and Western Lake Erie (0410), 28 percent; Upper Ohio (0503), 5 percent; and Southern Lake Erie (0411), 3 percent. The headwaters of many rivers in central Ohio, including the Vermillion, Black Fork, Sandusky, Little Scioto, and Olentangy Rivers, are in this MLRA.
This MLRA is underlain by late Devonian shale and sandstone. Surficial materials include glacial deposits of till, glaciolacustrine sediments, and outwash from Wisconsin and older glacial periods.
Classification relationships
Hierarchical Classification Relationships
Major Land Resource Area (USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2006)
USFS Ecological Regions (USDA, 2007):
Sections –Central Till Plains, Beech Maple (222H), Western Glaciated Allegheny Plateau (221F)
Subsections – Allegheny Plateau (221Fa), Bluffton Till Plains (222Ha), Miami-Scioto Plain – Tipton Till Plain (222Hb)
NatureServe Systems anticipated (NatureServe, 2011): Agriculture - Cultivated Crops and Irrigated Agriculture, Agriculture – Pasture/Hay, North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest, North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland, Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest
LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings anticipated (USGS, 2010): North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest, North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland, Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest
Ecological site concept
This site is an upland site formed on glacial till parent materials. It is located in a convex landscape position on summits, shoulders, footslopes, and backslopes on relatively shallow angles of slope (≥ 6%) with soils that are somewhat poorly soil drained.
The characteristic vegetation of the site is of a till mesic forest with the understory and canopy dominated by American beech and sugar maple with American elm, white ash, and basswood being common as well. Canopy level associates include white oak, black walnut, and shagbark hickory. The site is dominated by shade tolerant, fire sensitive species. The most common disturbance dynamic is individual tree or small group mortality or windthrow with catastrophic windthrow or damage from ice storms to occur very infrequently. The largest risk to extant natural representation of the site is by invasion of non-native plants that, if unchecked, can dominate the understory. This greatly changes the species richness and diversity of the understory as the non-native plants, particularly species of Asian bush honeysuckle, exclude most all other species. The dominant canopy level trees are not threatened by these species, however given enough time this change could alter the composition of the canopy by altering the species that can get established in the understory. Currently, a large portion of the site has been converted for agricultural use, primarily corn and soybean rotations. The conversion to agriculture is started by the removal of the woody species followed by the installation of drainage either through ditching, field tile, or both. Tillage and/or management keep the site in the agricultural state.
Associated sites
| F111XE501OH |
Till Depression Site is in a concave landscape position and frequently flooded. |
|---|---|
| F111XE503OH |
Till Ridge Soils are moderately well to well drained |
Similar sites
| F111XE403OH |
Outwash Upland Located on outwash parent materials; soils are very poorly to somewhat poorly drained |
|---|---|
| F111XE301OH |
Wet Restricted Located on residuum parent materials; soils are somewhat poorly drained; soils have a restrictive layer within 36 inches of the surfac |
| F111XE102OH |
Lacustrine Forest Located on lacustrine parent materials; soils are somewhat poorly drained or drier. |
| F111XE503OH |
Till Ridge Soils are moderately well to well drained. |
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
(1) Fagus grandifolia |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
Not specified |
| Herbaceous |
Not specified |
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