Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F121XY024KY
Colluvial Footslope
Last updated: 10/01/2024
Accessed: 04/17/2026
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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
Calcareous Mesophytic Forest (Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, 2009)
Ecological site concept
The Colluvial Footslope ecological site occur in soils of varying slopes and aspects in colluvial parent material. Representative soils include Etowah, Guernsey, Lawshe, Loradale, Pate, Sees, Shelocta, Woolper.
State 1. (Reference):
Phase 1.1: Plant species dominants:
Quercus alba-Quercus velutina/Lindera benzoin/Polygonum virginianum - Dentaria heterophylla
(white oak – black oak / spicebush / Virginia knotweed – slender toothwort)
Phase 1.2: Plant species dominants: Acer saccharum-Liriodendron tulipifera / Lindera benzoin/Polygonum virginianum-Dentaria heterophylla
Dominant phase 1.1 trees may include Quercus alba (white oak), Quercus muehlenbergii (chinkapin oak), Quercus rubra (red oak), Quercus shumardii (Shumard oak), Carya ovata (shagbark hickory ), Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory ), Ulmus rubra (slippery elm), Acer saccharum (sugar maple), Fraxinus quadrangulata (blue ash), Cercis canadensis (redbud), Cornus florida (dogwood), Oxydendrum arboreum (sourwood), Ulmus americana (American elm), and Juniperus virginiana (eastern red cedar).
Phase 1.2 is typified by dominant trees that are more mesic, quick-growing, and shade tolerant than oaks or hickories. The increase in forest floor shade reduces oak-hickory regeneration while providing an advantageous environment for the continuation of shade-tolerant tree species to be dominant.
State 2, Phase 2.1: Managed Pasture. Plant species dominants: 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. This sites are very suitable for the development of warm season pastures for forage production or wildlife habitat. Species composition is dependent upon seeding and management.
State: 3. Transitional (Abandoned) Field
Phase 31: Plant species dominants: eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana)/ tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus)-giant ironweed (Vernonia gigantean)
State: 4. Honeysuckle Invaded Woodland
State 4, Phase 4.1: Plant species dominants: Acer saccharum- Celtis occidentalis/ Lonicera maackii.
This state is characterized by a dense understory of Lonicera spp. (usually L. maackii in MLRA 121) which fundamentally alters the native plant communities due to shade and competition. Long-term, multi-year control efforts are required to control this aggressive non-native plant and restore native woodlands.
State: 5. Cropland
State 5, Phase 5.1: Plant species dominants: dependent upon seeding and management. Most common crops are corn and soybeans.Associated sites
F121XY022KY Somewhat Poorly Drained Fragipan Upland
Somewhat Poorly Drained Fragipan Uplands
Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree (1) Quercus rubra
(2) Liriodendron tulipiferaShrub (1) Lindera benzoin
(2) Asimina trilobaHerbaceous (1) Podophyllum peltatum
(2) Arisaema triphyllum
