Physical Features

In Church Woods we surveyed a transect line perpendicular to the north-south trending ridges and valleys (swales) that dominate the topography of the area. The transect was conducted by walking through the woods with a measurement tape and noting the slope of the land between the beginning and end of the tape. Along the transect we dug soil pits to examine the differences between the soils along the transect. At each site we noted the different types of soil, classified the soil type and tested the pH.

The pictures seen above are the transects. The ridges and swales do not show up on a topographic map because the highest and lowest points on these transects are only seperated by five feet of elevation. Because of this the transects were drawn to be vertically exaggerated (1:33) to show the micro-topography that dominates Church Woods. These transects are schematic representations of how the land is shaped and how the plants and wildlife deal with the lay of the land. Two soil pits are shown below.

This 1.5 foot deet pit was dug in a low lying marshy area. As we dug down we noticed two different layers. The top layer was 5 inches deep and composed of wet clay that was pushed closely together. The next layer was 11 inches deep and composed of mottled clay. Mottled soil happens when water sits on top of the soil and leaches the minerals from the soil below. Through this we know that the soil does not drain well from this area. The pH of this pit incresed from 7 to 8.4 as the soil changed. This indicates that it went from being neutral to being basic, reflecting the calcium rich soil/bedrock at depth.

This pit was dug in ridge where a Hemlock grove was growing. This soil pit had five layers and roots penetrated deeply into the soil (below the pit). The top layer has a rich organic layer of decomposing needles and sticks. The second layer is a red layer consisting of well drained shale soils. The third layer consists of intensely leach minerals out minerals, known as the E-horizon. The fourth layer is made up of dry clay and some minerals from the E-horizon. The final layer consists of mottled clay. The pH of this area ran from 4.2 through 5.4. This soil is very acidic because of the needles of the hemlocks.