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Wetland Classification and Mapping
of Seward, Alaska
Map Unit Descriptions Ecosystem: Headwater Fen Map Component: H2
Seward Area Extent: 1 wetland polygon; 0.9 acres |
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The only wetland mapped as H2 in the Seward area. It is a sedge-dominated peatland fringe of a small headwater pond on the glacier-cut bedrock bench above Fourth of July Creek.
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Wetland Indicators Type: Peat Average depth to water table: 10 cm Organic layer thickness: 146 cm Average depth to redoximorphic features: n/a Common Soils: Typic Cryohemists, Typic Cryosaprists Fewflower sedge - tall cottongrass (Carex pauciflora - Eriophorum angustifolium) Tufted bulrush- Alpine bulrush (Tricophorum caespitosum - Tricophorum alpinum) Sphagnum moss - tall cottongrass (Sphagnum spp. - Eriophorum angustifolium) Sitka sedge (Carex sitchensis)
NWI: PEM1Bg HGM: Terrene Basin groundwater-dominated Throughflow headwater. |
H2 is the Headwater Fen Ecosystem wetland component with a water table at or very near the surface, and frequently dominated by sedges. A single H2 fen was mapped. It is the sedge-dominated peatland fringe of a small headwater pond. The H2 component is more often found in association with the H3 component in a complex.
Headwater Fen Ecosystem wetlands are typically sloping peatland fens at or near the headwaters of first-order streams. Seward area Headwater Fens are mapped only on the 800' elevation glacier-cut bedrock bench above Fourth of July Creek.
