Physiographic features

Macon Ridge in extreme northeastern Louisiana and southeastern Arkansas is a 135-mile long prominent ridge that lies between the Boeuf and Tensas Basins (Saucier, 1994). Macon Ridge is a terrace that features level to gently undulating topography with steep scarps of uplands, floodplains, depressions, and drainageways. The entire area is located within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley section of the Coastal Plain Province of the Atlantic Plain. It reaches a maximum width of about 25 miles in northeastern Louisiana about 30 miles north of Sicily Island (Saucier, 1994). Elevation ranges from 50 to 150 feet (15 to 46 m). The ridge is consistently higher on its eastern side where elevations are 20 to 30 feet higher than in the adjacent Tensas Basin (floodplain). It is bounded on the eastern edge by Bayou Macon. On the western side, bounded by the Boeuf River, elevations of the ridge are approximately the same as those in the Boeuf Basin, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the two at the surface (Saucier, 1994). Both Bayou Macon and Boeuf River are underfit streams occupying ancient Arkansas River meanders. The entire Macon Ridge is underlain by Pleistocene-aged loamy and clayey braided stream alluvium from the “old” Arkansas River. Macon Ridge consists almost entirely of Early Wisconsin age glacial outwash and is a continuation of the valley train in the Western Lowlands (Saucier, 1994). The area mantled by loess on the eastern edge of the terrace rises 10 to 30 feet above the floodplains. The loess thins toward the west, and elevation decreases. The loess in the western part of Macon Ridge contains small mixtures of the older underlying braided-stream terrace alluvium, and in even lower elevations, the loess contains mixtures of recent clayey alluvium or is buried completely beneath recent alluvium (T. E. Allen, USDA-NRCS Richland Parish Soil Survey Report, 1993).

This Site occurs on clayey and silty broad flats of floodplains, depressions and narrow drainageways on the loess-mantled Macon Ridge braided stream terrace in both Arkansas and Louisiana. Slopes are level (0 to 1 percent. These sites include floodplains, depressions and drainageways of Caney Bayou, Indian Bayou, Big Colewa Creek, Big Creek and Old Big Creek, Little Creek, Bee Bayou, Bulls Bayou, Muddy Bayou, Turkey Creek, Ash Slough, Daves Bayou, and Deer Creek.

Table 2. Representative physiographic features

Climatic features

The climate of North East Louisiana and South East Arkansas is warm and humid with a monthly precipitation that is well distributed throughout the year. The monthly precipitation mean is between 2.9 and 5.3 inches, with the lowest rainfall occurring from June through November. The following climatic data are averages from the three weather stations listed below. Temperature and precipitation may vary considerably from that listed for each month. Site specific weather data should be used for land management decisions. For site specific weather conditions, obtain data from a weather station close to the site.

Table 3. Representative climatic features

Climate stations used

• (1) EUDORA [USC00032355], Eudora, AR

• (2) RAYVILLE [USC00167691], Rayville, LA

• (3) WINNSBORO 5 SSE [USC00169806], Winnsboro, LA

Influencing water features

This site is influenced by both surface and sub-surface hydrology. Several inches of standing water can be found in the winter months and soils may be saturated into early spring. Wetness is a dominate driver of this system and in Alternative States it will be a limiting factor.

Soil features

Forestdale silty clay loam, 0 to 1 percent slopes, occasionally flooded
Gilbert silt loam, occasionally flooded
Waverly silt loam, frequently flooded

Soils are poorly drained, Typic Endoaqualfs (Forestdale), Typic Glossaqualfs (Gilbert) and Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts (Waverly). These soils formed from mixed clayey, loamy, and silty alluvium, and loess sediments of late Pleistocene Age. Slopes range from 0 to 1 percent. These very deep, slowly and very slowly permeable soils are found in broad flats and narrow depressional areas. These soils are considered hydric and the water table is at or within 1.5 feet of the surface during winter and spring months in normal years. These soils are subject to occasional or frequent flooding for brief to long duration.

Table 4. Representative soil features

Animal community

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Hydrological functions

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Recreational uses

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Wood products

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Other products

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Other information

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Other references

Allen, T. E., USDA-NRCS Richland Parish Soil Survey Report, 1993

Autin, W. J., Burns, S. F., Miller, B. J., Saucier, R. T., & Snead, J. I. (1991). Quaternary geology of the lower Mississippi Valley. The Geology of North America, 2, 547-582.

Cowardin, L. M., Carter, V., Golet, F. C., & LaRoe, E. T. (1979). Classification of wetlands and deepwater habitats of the United States. US Fish and Wildlife Service FWS/OBS, 79(31), 131.

Daigle, J.J., Griffith, G.E., Omernik, J.M., Faulkner, P.L., McCulloh, R.P., Handley, L.R., Smith, L.M., and Chapman, S.S., 2006, Ecoregions of Louisiana (color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs): Reston, Virginia, U.S. Geological Survey (map scale 1:1,000,000).

Ezell, A. W., & Hodges, J. D. (1995). Bottomland hardwood management: Species Site Relationships. MSU Extension Service Publication 2004.

Saucier, R. T. (1994). Geomorphology and Quarternary Geologic History of the Lower Mississippi Valley. Volumes 1 and 2. ARMY ENGINEER WATERWAYS EXPERIMENT STATION VICKSBURG MS GEOTECHNICAL LAB.

Schumacher, B. A., B. J. Miller, and W. J. Day. "A chronotoposequence of soils developed in loess in central Louisiana." Soil Science Society of America Journal 51.4 (1987): 1005-1010.

McCraw, David J., and Whitney J. Autin. Lower Mississippi Valley, Loess: A Field Guide. Inqua Commission on Loess, 1989.

Emerson, F. V. (1918). Loess-depositing winds in Louisiana. The Journal of Geology, 26(6), 532-541.

Frost, C. C. Presettlement Fire frequency regimes of the United States: A First approximation. Fire in ecosystem management: Shifting the paradigm from suppression to prescription, ed. TL Pruden and LA Brennan, 70-81.

Guyette, R. P., Stambaugh, M. C., Dey, D. C., & Muzika, R. M. (2012). Predicting fire frequency with chemistry and climate. Ecosystems, 15(2), 322-335.

Heinrich, P. V., (2008), Loess Map of LA, Louisiana Geological Survey

Kochian, L. V., Pineros, M. A., & Hoekenga, O. A. (2005). The physiology, genetics and molecular biology of plant aluminum resistance and toxicity. In Root Physiology: From Gene to Function (pp. 175-195). Springer Netherlands.

Latimore S. (1996). THE RARE AND SENSITIVE NATURAL WETLAND PLANT COMMUNITIES OF INTERIOR LOUISIANA. Louisiana Natural Heritage Program, Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Louisiana Natural Heritage Program, Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, (2009) The Natural Communities of Louisiana

Miller, B. J., Day, W. J., & Schumacher, B. A. (1986). Loesses and loess-derived soils in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Guidebook for soils-geomorphology tour.

Miller, B. J., Lewis, G. C., Alford, J. J. & Day, W. J. (1984) Loesses in Louisiana and at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Guidebook for Friends of the Pleistocene Field Trip.

Muery, E. (1998), ANALYSIS OF PRESETTLEMENT NATURAL PLANT COMMUNITY TYPES OF THE MACON RIDGE OF LOUISIANA.

Pettry, D. E., & Switzer, R. E. (1998). Sodium soils in Mississippi.

United States Salinity Laboratory Staff, USA, USDA (1954), Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkali soils, USDA Agriculture Handbook 60, 1954, 160 pp.

USDA Agriculture Handbook 296. (2006). http://soils.usda.gov/MLRAExplorer. Land Resource Regions and Major Land Resource Areas of the United States, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Published Soil Surveys from Catahoula, Franklin, Richland and West Carroll Parishes. Various publication dates.

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Web Soil Survey, http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app. USDA NRCS Soil Survey Division. Washington, DC. 2008.

Contributors

D Charles Stemmans II
Dwayne Rice
Wayne Roberts
Rachel Stout Evans

Acknowledgments

The Macon Ridge Technical Team did an outstanding job of utilizing existing data and knowledge to develop site concepts. They also provided the needed sections of the descriptions, review and comments of them.