Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F144AY033MA
Shallow Dry Till Uplands
Accessed: 04/24/2024
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
The site consists of shallow, somewhat excessively drained, coarse-loamy, glacial till derived mostly from gneiss, schist, and granite. Soils are dry and nutrient poor. Slopes range from 0 to 50 percent on hills and ridges. Representative soils are Hollis, Brimfield, and Nassau
The reference plant community is an oak dominated forest. In some places the canopy may be more open forming a woodland. Black oak and chestnut are common trees in association with scarlet oak, red oak, pignut hickory, white ash, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, and in some locations pitch pine. Trees are generally lower is stature and productivity relative to forests in deeper soils. Lowbush blueberry and black huckleberry are common shrubs. Spotted wintergreen and Pennsylvania sedge are common understory species. In openings following tree falls or other natural disturbances poverty oatgrass and little bluestem may occur with early successional trees such as black birch. Invasive exotic plants such as Japanese barberry, multiflora rose, winged euonymus, and shrub honeysuckles can occur in disturbed sites.
Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree |
(1) Quercus velutina |
---|---|
Shrub |
(1) Gaylussacia baccata |
Herbaceous |
(1) Carex pensylvanica |
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