The Southeastern Wisconsin

Till Plain Till plains are an extensive flat plain of glacial till that forms when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the main body of a glacier and melts in place, depositing the sediments it carried. Ground moraines are formed with melts out of the glacie ...

s is an

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

in southeastern

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and northeastern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

in the United States. It is a Level III ecoregion in the classification system of the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

(EPA), where it is designated as ecoregion number 53. The ecoregion represents a transition between the hardwood forests and oak savannas to the west and the tallgrass prairie ecoregions to the south; it is today mostly covered by cropland.

Level IV ecoregions

Following is a list of smaller Level IV ecoregions within the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains ecoregion, as defined by the EPA. {, class="wikitable sortable" !Number !Ecoregion name !Description , - , 53a , Rock River Drift Plain , This region has numerous small creeks, a greater stream density, and fewer lakes than in ecoregions to the north and east; this is partly because its most recent glaciation was longer ago than in those ecoregions. The drift mantle is thin and deeply weathered with leached soils developed from a silt–loam cap of loess over glacial drift. Steeper topography and broad outwash plains with loamy and sandy soils also characterize this region. , - , 53b ,

Kettle Moraine Kettle Moraine is a large moraine in the state of Wisconsin, United States. It stretches from Walworth County in the south to Kewaunee County in the north. It has also been referred to as the ''Kettle Range'' and, in geological texts, as the '' ...

s , This region contains a higher concentration of lakes with lower trophic states than in the other level IV ecoregions of the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains. The soils are clayey to the east, especially along the

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

shore, and more sandy to the west, but generally less clayey than the soils in ecoregion 53d to the north. The region also contains extensive ground and end

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

s and pitted outwash with belts of hilly moraines and generally has greater relief than ecoregion 53d to the northeast. , - , 53c , Southeastern Wisconsin Savannah and Till Plain , This region supports a mix of agriculture (mostly cropland and dairy operations) and woodland. Crops include forage crops to support the dairy operations and a wide range of truck and specialty crops. Most of the original vegetation has been cleared with forested areas remaining only on steeper

end moraine A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front edge ...

s and poorly drained depressions. Irregular till plains, end moraines, kettles, and

drumlins A drumlin, from the Irish Gaelic, Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacier, glacial ice acting on und ...

are common, and wetlands are found throughout the region, especially along end morainal ridges. The potential natural vegetation (PNV) of this region is transitional with a mosaic of

sugar maple ''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the prima ...

basswood ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...

, and oak to the east and an increasing amount of

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

, and

bur oak ''Quercus macrocarpa'', the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus'', and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub o ...

oak savanna An oak savanna is a type of savanna—or lightly forested grassland—where oaks (''Quercus ''spp.) are the dominant trees. The terms "oakery" or "woodlands" are also used commonly, though the former is more prevalent when referencing the Mediter ...

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

, and

sedge meadow A hydrosere is a plant succession which occurs in an area of fresh water such as in oxbow lakes and kettle lakes. In time, an area of open freshwater will naturally dry out, ultimately becoming woodland. During this change, a range of different la ...

s toward the west. , - , 53d , Lake Michigan Lacustrine Clay Plain , This region is characterized by red chalky clay soil, lacustrine and till deposits, and a flat plain. The topography is much flatter than in regions to the south and there are fewer lakes; however, the lakes have generally higher trophic states than in adjacent level IV ecoregions. Soils are generally silty and loamy over calcareous loamy till, with muck and loamy lacustrine soils in low–lying areas. There is more prime farmland in this region with a longer growing season and more fertile soils than in surrounding ecoregions. Agriculture has a different mosaic of crops, with more fruit and vegetable crops than that of ecoregion 53c. The PNV of this region is

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

/sugar maple/basswood/

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

and white oak forests with a greater concentration of beech than other ecoregions in 53.

References

Ecoregions of Illinois Ecoregions of Wisconsin Ecoregions of the United States

Level IV ecoregions

See also

References