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): 122X–Highland Rim and Pennyroyal

122—Highland Rim and Pennyroyal
This area is in Tennessee (47 percent), Kentucky (43 percent), Indiana (7 percent), and Alabama (3 percent). It makes up about 21,530 square miles (55,790 square kilometers). Bloomington, Indiana, is in the small part of this area that juts into southern Indiana. The towns of Bowling Green, Fort Knox, and Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Clarksville, Tennessee, and Athens, Alabama, are in this MLRA. Interstates 24, 40, and 65 cross this area. The historic Natchez Trace (Natchez Trace Parkway) crosses the southeast part of the area. Fort Knox and Fort Campbell Military Reservations are in this MLRA. The Arnold Engineering Development Center, which is a National Natural Landmark, and the Land Between the Lakes, which is a Biosphere Reserve, are in the part of this area in Kentucky. The Biosphere Reserve lies between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, formed on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers by dams in Kentucky.

Physiography
This area is in the Highland Rim Section of the Interior Low Plateaus Province of the Interior Plains. It is a plateau consisting of low, rolling hills, upland flats, and narrow valleys. Steep slopes occur where the encircled Nashville Basin cuts into the area and along the western edge bordering the Coastal Plain. Elsewhere, except for steep walls and hillsides along deeply cut stream channels, the topography generally is gently rolling to strongly rolling and is interrupted in a few areas by broad upland flats and shallow basins. In many areas the land surface is pitted by limestone sinks. Elevation generally is 660 to 980 feet (200 to 300 meters). It ranges from about 330 feet (100 meters) along the deepest valley floors to about 1,310 feet (400 meters) on the crest of isolated hills.

The extent of the major Hydrologic Unit Areas (identified by four-digit numbers) that make up this MLRA is as follows: Cumberland (0513), 39 percent; Green (0511), 22 percent; Lower Tennessee (0604), 16 percent; Middle Tennessee-Elk (0603), 11 percent; Lower Ohio (0514), 9 percent; and Wabash (0512), 3 percent.

The headwaters of the Kentucky, Green, and Cumberland Rivers occur in the part of this area in Kentucky. The Ohio River forms the boundary between Indiana and Kentucky in this MLRA. The Tennessee River follows the western edge of the part of this area in Tennessee. The Cumberland River also is in this area. The Buffalo River, in Tennessee, has been designated a National Wild and Scenic River.

Geology
Most of this area is underlain by Ordovician- to Mississippian-age limestone and dolomite that has been exposed through erosion of the Cincinnati Arch. Parts of these rocks are covered by a layer of clay as much as 80 feet thick. Karst areas are common where the layer of clay does not occur. In the northernmost part of the MLRA, in Indiana, a sizable area is underlain by shale, sandstone, and limestone. Much of the bedrock on uplands and ridges is covered by a loess cap. Significant sand and gravel deposits occur on the valley floor and on terraces along the major rivers.

Soils
The dominant soil orders in this MLRA are Alfisols, Inceptisols, and Ultisols. The soils in the area dominantly have a mesic soil temperature regime, an udic soil moisture regime, and mixed or siliceous mineralogy. They are moderately deep to very deep, generally moderately well drained or well drained, and loamy or clayey.

Paleudalfs formed in residuum (Baxter and Vertrees series) and loess over residuum or old alluvium (Crider, Hammack, and Pembroke series) on hills and ridges.

Hapludalfs (Caneyville series) and Hapludults (Frankstown series) formed in residuum on hills and ridges.

Fragiudalfs (Bedford and Nicholson series) and Fragiudults (Dickson series) formed in loess over residuum on hills and ridges.

Eutrudepts formed in residuum on hills (Garmon series) and in alluvium on flood plains (Nolin series).

Paleudults formed in residuum on uplands (Frederick series) and in loess over residuum on ridges and plateaus (Mountview series).

Fluvaquents (Newark series) formed in alluvium on floodplains.

Excerpt from United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
2006. Land Resource Regions and Major Land Resource Areas of the United States, the
Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin. U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook 296.

Classification relationships

Scientific Name: Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest
Unique Identifier: CES202.898 (NatureServe)

Possible NatureServe Association(s):

Quercus alba - Quercus rubra - Quercus muehlenbergii / Cercis canadensis Forest
Translated Name: White Oak - No
Common Name: White Oak - Mixed Oak Dry-Mesic Alkaline Forest
Unique Identifier: CEGL002070
Classification Approach: International Vegetation Classification (IVC)

Ecological site concept

4-Loess Veneered Uplands

This PES describes hypotheses based on available data of many different scales and sources and has not been developed utilizing site-specific ecological field monitoring. This PES also does not encompass the entire complexity or diversity of these sites. Additional field studies would be required for detailed conservation planning or to develop a comprehensive and science-based native plant restoration plan for these sites.

State 1. Forestland

Only two tree species can be selected for entry into the database as dominants; however, multiple tree species may be dominant on these sites and it will vary depending on aspect, soil depth, seed sources, management, and disturbance history.

Phase 1.1: Plant species dominants:
White oak – northern red oak / redbud / Virginia creeper – Jack-in-the-pulpit
(Quercus alba - Quercus rubra / Cercis canadensis /Parthenocissus quinquefolia -Arisaema triphyllum)

Forests on these sites are generally mixed oak or oak-hickory. In areas with more topography, the north and east slopes may show an increase in shade tolerant hardwood species such as maples, ashes, or poplar. Understory communities are usually well-developed and contain herbs and forbs. The shrub layer is usually sparse in older, reference type communities but may be dense in successional stages.

Depending upon external influences such as fire and site management history, tree species may include various oaks, hickories, maples, dogwoods, ashes, and elms.

The absence of a natural fire regime and a history of disturbances (logging, grazing, etc.) are influences that will move this community from an old growth mixed-oak or oak-hickory community to a more mesic hardwood community.

This state may in impacted by the invasion of non-native honeysuckle within the understory.

Additional States and Phases are described in the Community Phase Data Section.

Table 1. Dominant plant species