Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F121XY030KY
Poorly Drained & Very Poorly Drained Floodplain
Last updated: 10/01/2024
Accessed: 04/16/2026
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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
Riparian Forest (Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, 2009)
Small Stream Scour Forest (Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, 2009)Ecological site concept
The Poorly Drained & Very Poorly Drained Floodplain ecological site includes poorly and very poorly drained floodplain mapunits. Representative soils include: Dunning, Lanton, Melvin.
Field work is required to refine this grouping of soils and may result in multiple ecological site descriptions being developed.
State 1, Phase 1.1:
Plant species dominants: Platanus occidentalis-Populus deltoides/Salix nigra –Cephalanthus occidentalis/
Common name: American sycamore – cottonwood / black willow – buttonbush/
The flooding and ponding regime characteristic of individual sites would greatly influence the forest community development and open areas of cane, sedges and grasses may exist within these communities. Wetland oaks may have once been influential on these soils, but existing communities today are dominated by sycamore, cottonwood, silver maple, and green ash. Understory species may include paw paw, spicebush, dogwoods, and boxelder. The herbaceous layers are variable depending on substrate, flooding frequency, flooding duration, drainage, and topography.
State: 2. Pasture
State 2, Phase 2.1: Managed Pasture. Plant species dominants: Schedonorus arundinaceus (tall fescue)
State: 3 – Transitional (Abandoned) Field
State 3, Phases 3.1: Acer saccharinum-Liriodendron tulipifera/Rosa multiflora- Rubus spp. /Schedonorus arundinaceus
Narrative: Tree species regeneration on these sites will depend on the severity and duration of disturbance, soil characteristics, available water, adjacent plant communities, seed sources, post-disturbance management inputs, and presence or absence of continued site disturbances (grazing).
State: 4. Old Cropfield Pioneer Woodland
State 4, Phase 4.1: Plant species dominants: henbit deadnettle (Lamium amplexicaule)- mouse-eared chickweed (Cerastium L.)
Narrative: This state is characterized by plant species considered weeds – predominately non-native, undesirable annual and perennial plants that quickly invade an abandoned cropfield. Species composition will depend on length of abandonment, previous and ongoing disturbances, and adjacent seed sources.
State: 5. Cropland
State 5, Phase 5.1: Plant species dominants: Zea spp. – Glycine spp.
Plants on these sites will be dependent upon seeding and management. Most common crops are corn and soybeans. Due to the drainage issues on these soil, many have been tiled extensively to facilitate crop production.Associated sites
F121XY031KY Somewhat Poorly Drained Floodplain
Somewhat poorly drained Floodplains
F121XY033KY Well Drained & Moderately Well Drained Floodplain
Well Drained and Moderately Well Drained Floodplains
Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree (1) Platanus occidentalis
(2) Populus deltoidesShrub (1) Salix nigra
(2) Cephalanthus occidentalisHerbaceous Not specified
