Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F121XY018KY
Moderately Well Drained Fragipan Terrace
Last updated: 10/01/2024
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): 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
Interior Highlands Mesic Hardwood Forest. (Plant Communities of the Midwest).
Deep soil Mesophytic Forest (Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission).
Calcareous Mesophytic Forest ((Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission).
Ecological site concept
Th Moderately Well Drained Fragipan Terrace ecological site includes soils that are moderately well drained with a fragipan. Representative soils include: Captina, Monogahela, Otwell, Otwood, Pekin, Sciotoville.
These sites are generally found on terraces within MLRA 121. Sites included in this provisional grouping are on a number of differing aspects, slope shapes, profile positions and geomorphic components. Future field work is needed to refine this grouping into potentially multiple ESDs.
The majority of these sites in MLRA 121 are now pastureland, cropland, urban development or poor-quality stands of highly disturbed hardwoods.
State 1. (Reference): Provisional Ecological Site (PES)
State 1, Phase 1.1: Plant species dominants:
Quercus alba-Liriodendron tulipifera/Sanicula odorata-Agrimonia
(white oak – tulip poplar / / common black snakeroot – agrimony)
Narrative: These sites are found on moderately well drained terraces with fragipans. These sites are now mostly agricultural but historically were likely dominated by a tall and closed tree canopy, a well-developed shrub layer and a diverse understory. Some sites may be subject to short-duration flooding.
Common tree species may include: Acer saccharum (sugar maple), Fagus grandifolia (beech), Fraxinus spp. (ash), Juglans nigra (black walnut), Tilia americana, and Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory). Community composition will vary depending on site conditions, disturbances, and micro-topography. Other tree species may include: Quercus spp., Carya laciniosa, Acer nigrum, Acer negundo, Gymnocladus dioicus, Ulmus americana, Liquidambar styraciflua, Aesculus glabra, Magnolia acuminata, and Nyssa sylvatica. Shrub may include Asimina triloba, Lindera benzoin and Arundinaria gigantea.
State 2, Phase 2.1: Managed Pasture. Plant species dominant: Schedonorus arundinaceus (tall fescue)
State 2, Phase 2.2: Minimally Managed Pasture. Plant species dominants: Rosa multiflora- Rubus spp. /Schedonorus arundinaceus
State 2, Phase 2.3: Warm-season Pasture. Plant species dominants depend on landowner objectives and site characteristics, but may include: switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), little bluestem (Andropogon scoparius), indianagrass (Sorghastrum nutans), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), and eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides).
State 3, Phases 3.1: Plant species dominants: Juniperus virginiana-Liriodendron tulipifera/ Rubus spp. - Rosa multiflora/ Vernonia gigantea -Schedonorus arundinaceus. (Eastern red cedar- tulip poplar/ berries-multiflora rose/ ironweed-tall fescue)
State 4, Phase 4.1: Plant species dominants: Acer saccharum –Liriodendron tulipifera /Lonicera maackii.
State 5, Phase 5.1: Plant species dominants: dependent upon seeding and management. Most common crops are corn and soybeans.
Associated sites
| F121XY017KY |
Somewhat Poorly Drained Fragipan Terrace Somewhat Poorly Drained Fragipan Terrace |
|---|
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
(1) Quercus alba |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
Not specified |
| Herbaceous |
(1) Sanicula |
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