An exploration of swamp succession: Reese's Swamp and Carp Creek Gorge in Cheboygan County, Michigan.
Metzler, Sarah
2001
Abstract
As with a majority of northern landscapes, Michigan? topography has been influenced heavily by glacial processes. Particularly since this state is peninsular, another major factor has been lakes, past and present. After the melting retreat of the most recent glacier, various manifestations of the present Great Lakes occurred as a result of exposure and elevation of outlets. Approximately 11,500 years BP and lasting for nearly 2000 years, Lake Algonquin connected what is now Lakes Michigan and Huron, submerging low areas in the northern Lower Peninsula (Dorr and Eschman 1977). However, after the heavy glaciers had been gone for a few thousand years, the ground began to rebound from the compression it had endured. The elevation of the lake outlet increased, allowing another rise in water levels. Lakes Michigan and Huron were again fused into Lake Nipissing for many centuries, until the waters eroded the Port Huron outlet to reduce lake levels to their present stage (Dorr and Eschman 1977). When a shoreline exists for a geologically significant period of time, the shoreline becomes pronounced due to erosion and/or dune formation. Lakes Algonquin and Nipissing recorded their presence with prominent changes in elevation at the archaic shorelines. Since Lake Nipissing occurred about 5000 years ago, and Algonquin 11,500, the ages of areas of land near or between the former shorelines of these lakes can be placed within reference to these times (Dorr and Eschman 1977). For example, the outwash plain that is today Reese's Swamp was once the lakebed of Nipissing, since from above it is bordered by steep slopes whose elevations, 195 meters, correspond to the present level of the old shoreline (which has rebounded from its original level). The area just north of the swamp, however, was the shore of Lake Algonquin, since there exists another set of stacked elevation at 225 meters above sea level. It is thus reasonable to say that the area between these two landmarks has been shaped by factors dating from 11,5000 to 5400 years BP. Little Carp Creek is formed from various groundwater upwellings, and runs through the length of Reese's Swamp. Since the formation of the swamp, since the retreat of Lake Nipissing, the eroding action of the groundwater springs has extended the length of the creek, creating a gorge that presently extends about 1000 meters north of the swamp proper, through what was outwash plain and the lakebed of Algonquin. In this study, I explore the soil successional and geological changes that the Carp Creek Gorge area has undergone as its age increases with thedownstream distance from the headwaters. Essentially, the swamp is spreading up the gorge as more land is eroded down to the same level and saturated with water. These geological characteristics of this area make it a unique opportunity to study the phenomenon of wetland encroachment directly. I study the changes in the soil and soil chemistry that occur due to the erosion of new land and the accumulation of vegetative life, which develops the conditions for other species to take hold in this unusual example of succession. I attempt to answer the questions: How does the chemical composition of the soil change with successional stage? How are the different layers of soil affected by the development of wetland characteristics over time? In the Carp Creek Gorge, I can effectively substitute a spatial gradient for the temporal one addressed by these questions, because of the continuous erosion that has served to draw the starting point ever back and allow time to unfold down the gorge. Other studies have explored the species composition of swamps, Reese's Swamp in particular, and to a lesser extent, the gorge (Frank, et al. 1997, Spencer 1987) but I found no literature describing the relation to erosion and succession, nor to the particular soil characteristics involved. I hypothesized that as the distance from the edge of the swamp increased, the depth to the parent material would increase and the acidity would decrease because of the gradual accumulation of organic material in a waterlogged environment.Subjects
Ecology of Wetlands
Types
Working Paper
Metadata
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