Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F121XY017KY
Somewhat Poorly Drained Fragipan Terrace
Last updated: 10/01/2024
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): 121X–Kentucky Bluegrass
General: MLRA 121 is in Kentucky (83 percent), southern Ohio (11 percent), and southern Indiana (6 percent). It makes up about 10,680 square miles (27,670 square kilometers). The cities of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Frankfort, and Lexington, Kentucky, are in this area.
Physiography: This area is primarily in the Lexington Plain Section of the Interior Low Plateaus Province of the Interior Plains.
Soils: The dominant soil orders in MLRA 121 are Alfisols, Inceptisols, and Mollisols. The soils in the area dominantly have a mesic soil temperature regime, an udic soil moisture regime, and mixed mineralogy. They are shallow to very deep, generally well-drained, and loamy or clayey. Hapludalfs formed in residuum on hills and ridges (Beasley, Cynthiana, Eden, Faywood, Lowell, and McAfee series) and in loess over residuum on hills and ridges (Carmel and Shelbyville series). Paleudalfs (Crider and Maury series) formed in loess or other silty sediments over residuum on hills and ridges. Fragiudalfs (Nicholson series) formed in loess over residuum on ridges. Hapludolls formed in residuum on hills and ridges (Fairmount series) and in alluvium on floodplains (Huntington series). Eutrudepts (Nolin series) formed in alluvium on flood plains.
Geology: Most of this area has an Ordovician-age limestone that has been brought to the surface in the Jessamine Dome, a high part of a much larger structure called the Cincinnati Arch. The strata of limestone have a propensity to form caves and karst topography. Younger units of thin-bedded shale, siltstone, and limestone occur at the eastern and western edges of the area.
The area has no coal-bearing units. Pleistocene-age loess deposits cover most of the bedrock units in this MLRA, and some glacial lake sediments are at the surface in the northwest corner of the area. Unconsolidated alluvium is deposited in the river valleys.
Classification relationships
Bottomland Ridge/terrace Forest(Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission)
Ecological site concept
The SWPD Fragipan Terrace ecological site is on somewhat poorly drained soils with a fragipan and generally located on stream terraces. Representative soils include: Bartle, Lawrence, Otwell, Tyler, Weinbach.
Field work is required to delineate and develop a full ecological site description which can be utilized for conservation uses.
State 1, Phase 1.1: Plant species dominants:
Liquidambar styraciflua-Fagus grandifolia/Cornus amomum / Boehmeria cylindrica-Impatiens capensis
Sweetgum – American beech /silky dogwood / small-spike false nettle - jewelweed
Narrative: Trees found on these sites based on the NASIS database include sweetgum, tuliptree, hackberry, American beech, and sugar maple.
These sites are characterized by their somewhat poorly drained soils. Plant species, especially the understory forbs, herbs, vines, and shrubs, are those that prefer a moister environment. The majority of these sites in MLRA 121 are cropland, pasture, urban, highly disturbed or successional woodlands; therefore, the exact characteristics of a true historic reference community is difficult to accurately define. Historical records research and field studies would be required to develop a restoration plan for conservation purposes.
State 2, Phase 2.1: Managed Pasture. Plant species dominants: Schedonorus arundinaceus (tall fescue)
State 2, Phase 2.2: Minimally Managed Pasture. Plant species dominants: Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)- Rubus spp. /Schedonorus arundinaceus (tall fescue)-Eutrochium spp. (joe pye weed)
State 2, Phase 2.3: Native Grass Pasture. Plant species dominants: Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) - Andropogon gerardii (big bluestem)
State: 3 – Transitional (Abandoned) Field
State 3, Phases 3.1: Acer saccharinum-Platanus occidentalis /Rosa multiflora- Rubus spp. /Schedonorus arundinaceus
State 4, Phase 4.1: Plant species dominants: henbit deadnettle (Lamium amplexicaule)- mouse-eared chickweed (Cerastium L.)
State 5, Phase 5.1: Plant species dominants: Zea spp. – Glycine spp.
Associated sites
| F121XY018KY |
Moderately Well Drained Fragipan Terrace Moderately Well Drained Fragipan Terrace |
|---|
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
(1) Quercus palustris |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
(1) Cornus amomum |
| Herbaceous |
(1) Boehmeria cylindrica |
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