Regional Landscape Ecosystems of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin
SUBSECTION VIII.3. Dickinson
DISCUSSION: This subsection is transitional between the low elevation lake plain and outwash of this section (Section VIII) and the steeper, higher elevation bedrock ridges and moraines of Section IX.
SUB-SUBSECTIONS: Northern Lake Michigan (Hermanville) Till Plain (VIII.3.1), a loamy till plain over limestone bedrock; Gwinn (VIII.3.2), a broad, poorly drained outwash plain; and Deerton (VIII.3.3), broad ridges of thin soil over sandstone and steep ridges of deep sand. (See figures 4 and 6.)
ELEVATION: 602 to 1,300 feet (183 to 396 m).
AREA: 4,385 square miles (11,366 sq km).
STATES: Michigan and Wisconsin.
CLIMATE: Temperature is moderated by Lake Michigan. In Wisconsin, the growing season is nearly 150 days along Lake Michigan, but only 120 days at the west edge of the subsection (Hole and Germain 1994). To the north, in Michigan, the growing season can be shorter than 100 days (Eichenlaub et al. 1990). Extreme minimum temperature ranges from about -40½F inland to -30½F along the Lake Superior shoreline. At the southern edge of the subsection, snowfall is relatively light, 60 to 80 inches annually in Michigan (Eichenlaub et al. 1990) and 40 to 60 inches in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Statistical Reporting Service 1967); to the north along Lake Superior, snowfall is as high as 140 inches. Total annual precipitation is relatively uniform, from 30 to 34 inches.
BEDROCK GEOLOGY: Surface deposits of glacial drift reflect the local bedrock from which the till was derived. The bedrock in the northern third of Michigan is Cambrian sandstone, and bedrock in the remainder of Michigan and Wisconsin is Paleozoic (Ordovician) limestone and dolomite. Bedrock is generally within 40 feet of the surface in Michigan (Vanlier 1963b, Sinclair 1960), probably at least partially accounting for the high percentage of wetland within the subsection.
LANDFORMS: See sub-subsections.
LAKES AND STREAMS: See sub-subsections.
SOILS: Soils are classified as moderately sloping Haplorthods plus Fragiorthods and gently or moderately sloping Psammaquents plus Sideraquods and Histosols (USDA Soil Conservation Service 1967). See sub-subsections.
PRESETTLEMENT VEGETATION: See sub-subsections.
NATURAL DISTURBANCE: See sub-subsections.
PRESENT VEGETATION AND LAND USE: See sub-subsections.
RARE PLANT COMMUNITIES: See sub-subsections.
RARE PLANTS: See sub-subsections.
RARE ANIMALS: See sub-subsections.
NATURAL AREAS: See sub-subsections.
CONSERVATION CONCERNS: See sub-subsections.
PUBLIC LAND MANAGERS: See sub-subsections.
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