Releve Virginia Division of Natural Heritage, see http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/documents/nh_plotform_instructions.pdf
Overall Taxon Cover Values are Automatically Calculated?
no
Stem Observation Area
400
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
35
m
Tree Cover
80
%
Shrub Cover
55
%
Field Cover
50
%
Nonvascular Cover
1
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
The habitat of this stand is a most unusual inclusion within a typical, acidic coastal plain upland/ravine ecosystem. Here large outcrops of cemented shells and carbonate materials are exposed in a slope undercut by a small stream. Soils are evidently highly calcareous and support a profusion of species not found anywhere else in this area. Included are species such as Asplenium rhizophyllum, Pellaea atropurpurea, Scutellaria ovata and Sanicula odorata that rarely occur in the coastal plain. The band of calcareous habitat and vegetation is very narrow; thus is was not possible to avoid a small trail (possibly an old logging road) in the plot placement. Some marl exposures here were evidently mined by local farmers for fertilizers in the 1920's and 1930's (source: Chesapeake Corp. Nature Trail Guide Book).
Plot location: Chesapeake Corp. Nature Trail off VA 33 SW of West Point. Plot located along both sides of "Marl Loop" Trail ca. 100m east of its junction with the main trail. See plot form for sketch.
Plot is horizontally bisected by bench/ledge.
A= medium brown clay loam with abundant grit/gravel weathered from marl outcrops.
Rock Types Present: Shell deposits, probably of the Yorktown Formation.
Soil Type: Mapped as Nevarc-Remlik Complex, 25 to 60 percent slopes; probably an inclusion.
Sample collected.
Disturbance Data:
Disturbance Type
Disturbance Intensity
Disturbance Comment
unknown
Logged in past. Old roadway/trail through plot. Lonicera japonica is very invasive here.
unknown
Small scale pit mining of shell marl for fertilizer.