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
30
m
Shrub Height
5
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
85
%
Shrub Cover
45
%
Field Cover
90
%
Nonvascular Cover
6
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot captures a forested wetland located on a bedrock terrace above the Potomac River. This site likely represents an oxbow of a Pleistocene channel of the river. Abundant groundwater draining through adjacent slopes on both sides is apparently forced to the surface by the underlying bedrock stratigraphy of the terrace (A.H. Fleming, pers. comm.). Symplocarpus foetidus dominates the vernal aspect of the herb layer while Saururus cernuus assumes dominance in the summer. This site may be inundated by rare, catastrophic (100-year class) floods. Mean groundwater pH (5 samples) = 5.94. Mean groundwater temperature (deg. C, 5 samples) = 14.49.