Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site R111XE002OH
Limnic Muck
Last updated: 9/11/2024
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): 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
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,
LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings anticipated (USGS, 2010): Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems, North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest
Ecological site concept
This site is an upland site formed on herbaceous organic soil parent material overlaying coprogenous material in depressions on lake and till plains. Disturbance to the site by fire was driven by the seasonal presence of water on the site. In the spring and early summer the site is often ponded to a depth of 15 inches and for up to 30 days. The water table recedes as the summer progresses creating a drier situation. The drier conditions that can occur in very early spring or late fall, coupled with the then dormant vegetation, increases the susceptibility of the site to fire. The seasonal flooding and relatively short fire return interval (~10 years or less) created a situation where the site is dominated by herbaceous vegetation.
The characteristic vegetation is herbaceous in nature, mostly dominated by tall prairie grass species, most notably big bluestem and eastern gamagrass. Sedge species are also common throughout the site and are the most abundant sub-dominant group of species. The influence of water via flooding and ponding along with fire maintain the herbaceous species dominance of the site. The absence of fire will lead this site to being converted to woodland and then potentially a closed canopy forest. The lack of fire will allow hydrophilic shrub species to get established, further altering the fire cycle. Continued absence of fire will have the site progress to a forest dominated by wetland tree species such as elm and ash. Invasive species, specifically, reed canarygrass and phragmites, can invade and come to dominate the site in the absence of management to curtail or prevent their establishment and proliferation. Currently, a large percentage of the site is in agricultural production, notably corn and soybean rotations, after the installation of drainage. These sites can be very productive, once drained, due in large part to the high amounts of organic matter.
Associated sites
| R111XE001OH |
Mineral Muck Underlain by mineral soil |
|---|---|
| R111XE003OH |
Deep Muck Not underlain by mineral soil |
| F111XE501OH |
Till Depression On till parent material |
Similar sites
| R111XE001OH |
Mineral Muck Underlain by mineral soil |
|---|---|
| R111XE003OH |
Deep Muck Underlying material is not limnic (coprogeneous earth). |
| R111XE401OH |
Wet Outwash Mollisol Soil parent material is outwash; site generally higher on the landscape; soils are mollisols |
Figure 1.
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
Not specified |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
Not specified |
| Herbaceous |
(1) Andropogon gerardii |
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