Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site R111XE003OH
Deep Muck
Last updated: 9/11/2024
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): 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, Appalachian (Hemlock)-Northern Hardwood Forest, North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest, North-Central Interior Floodplain
LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings anticipated (USGS, 2010): Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems, North-Central Interior Beech-Maple
Ecological site concept
This site is a wetland site formed on very deep (51 to 80+ inches) herbaceous organic soil parent material in depressions on lake and till plains that are very poorly drained.
Fire was the historic disturbance mechanism of the site and was driven by the seasonal presence of water on the site. In the spring and early summer, the site is often ponded or flooded to a depth of 15 inches for long stretches of time. The water table recedes as the summer progresses creating a much drier situation that increases the susceptibility of the site to fire. The seasonal flooding and fire return interval of about 15 years created a situation where the site is dominated by herbaceous vegetation.
The characteristic vegetation is herbaceous in nature, mostly dominated by bulrushes and cattails, with a number of sedge species being also being present. 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. 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. Invasive species, specifically phragmites, can invade and come to dominate the site in the absence of management to curtail or prevent its establishment and proliferation.
Associated sites
R111XE001OH |
Mineral Muck Mineral Muck. Underlain by mineral soil |
---|---|
R111XE002OH |
Limnic Muck Linmic Muck. Underlain by coprogenous earth |
F111XE501OH |
Till Depression Till Depression. On till parent material |
Similar sites
R111XE001OH |
Mineral Muck Mineral Muck |
---|---|
R111XE002OH |
Limnic Muck Limnic Muck |
R111XE401OH |
Wet Outwash Mollisol Wet Outwaash Mollisol. |
Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree |
Not specified |
---|---|
Shrub |
Not specified |
Herbaceous |
(1) Scirpus |
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