Relationships Among Soil Lithology, Timber Harvest and the Hydrology of Coastal Plain Depressional Wetlands

Abstract

Proceedings of the 1999 Georgia Water Resources Conference, March 30 and 31, Athens, Georgia.Piezometric data and soil data are being collected within and around a group of Coastal Plain depressional wetlands located in commercial timber land in Effingham County, GA. The water level data is being used to determine how differences in soil lithology affect the hydroperiods, especially the start and end of dry periods. The data is also being used to compare the hydroperiods among wetlands with differing ages of adjacent tree stands. The pine forests around these wetlands are harvested on a 20-25 year cycle, and the chemistry and understory of these wetlands respond dramatically and immediately to adjacent timber harvest. The role of hydrologic change in these chemical and plant community responses is being investigated as part of this project.Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2202 with partial funding provided by the U.S. Department of Interior, geological Survey, through the Georgia Water Research Insttitute as authorized by the Water Research Institutes Authorization Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397). The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of the University of Georgia or the U.S. Geological Survey or the conference sponsors