Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F144AY020MA
Very Wet Coastal Lake Plain
Last updated: 5/01/2019
Accessed: 04/26/2024
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): 144A–New England and Eastern New York Upland, Southern Part
MLRA 144A: New England and Eastern New York Upland, Southern Part
The eastern half of the eastern part of this MLRA is in the Seaboard Lowland Section of the New England Province of the Appalachian Highlands. The western half of the eastern part and the southeastern half of the western part are in the New England Upland Section of the same province and division. The northwestern half of the western part is in the Hudson Valley Section of the Valley and Ridge Province of the Appalachian Highlands. This MLRA is a very scenic area of rolling to hilly uplands that are broken by many gently sloping to level valleys that terminate in coastal lowlands. Elevation ranges from sea level to 1,000 feet (0 to 305 meters) in much of the area, but it is 2,000 feet (610 meters) on some hills. Relief is mostly about 6 to 65 feet (2 to 20 meters) in the valleys and about 80 to 330 feet (25 to 100 meters) in the uplands.
This area has been glaciated and consists almost entirely of till plains and drumlins dissected by narrow valleys with a thin mantle of till. The southernmost boundary of the area marks the farthest southward extent of glaciation on the eastern seaboard. The river valleys and coastal plains are filled with glacial lake sediments, marine sediments, and glacial outwash. The bedrock in the eastern half of the area consists primarily of igneous and metamorphic rocks of early Paleozoic age. Granite is the most common igneous rock, and gneiss, schist, and slate are the most common metamorphic rocks. In the parts of the MLRA in northeastern Pennsylvania and in eastern and southeastern New York, Devonian- to Pennsylvanian-age sandstone, shale, and limestone bedrock is dominant. Carbonate rocks, primarily dolomite and limestone, are the dominant kinds of bedrock in the part of this MLRA in northwestern Connecticut.
Ecological site concept
This site consists of deep, very poorly drained silty clayey soils formed in marine or glacio-lacustrine sediments and occupy bottomlands and basins. Representative soil is Maybid that is mapped along the coast.
The reference community is “red maple swamp” (Swain and Kearsley 2011) or “red maple-skunk cabbage” (Sperduto and Nichols 2011) with a broad variable composition. Red maple is the often the dominant tree with admixtures of white ash, American elm, white pine, hemlock and swamp white oak. Swamp azalea and sweet pepperbush form the predominant shrub layer. Herb layer is highly variable but can include many fern species, sensitive fern, royal fern, and marsh fern, in richer areas. Skunk cabbage is the most common herb.
A secondary community is the “coastal Atlantic white cedar swamp” (Swain and Kearsley 2011). Atlantic white cedar is the dominant with admixtures of red maple.
Other communities may be “shrub swamp” (Swain and Kearsley 2011) with sweet pepperbush, shrubby dogwoods, azaleas, and others; or “deep emergent marsh” (Swain and Kearsley 2011) consisting of tall graminoids such as cattails, common reed, bulrushes, lakeside sedge, and Canada bluejoint; or “shallow emergent swamp” (Swain and Kearsley 2011) consisting of Canada bluejoint, and many other sedges, rushes, and grasses.
Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree |
(1) Acer rubrum |
---|---|
Shrub |
(1) Rhododendron viscosum |
Herbaceous |
Not specified |
Click on box and path labels to scroll to the respective text.