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Summit Interlobate Area

↑About the Summit Interlobate Area

The Summit Interlobate Area is a flat area in northeast Ohio characterized by glacial features and numerous lakes and wetlands.

This region is underlain by sandstone and covered with extensive glacial outwash and till. The terrain is very flat on a large scale, but local glacial features such as kames provide some local relief. Streams are slow-moving, drainage impaired both by the flat topography and poorly-drained glacial till.

Natural forest cover was mostly mixed mix oak forests, which populated sandy soils. There was some mixed mesophytic forest on well-drained sites, and oak-sugar maple forest on soils derived from glacial till. There were also extensive peat bogs, filled with sphagnum moss.

This area is heavily developed and utilized by humans. It contains most of the Akron and Canton metro areas. There is significant agriculture here as well, mostly dairy and production of feed crops. The region also contains gravel quarries. In recent years, low-density suburban residential development has come to dominate this area. There is relatively little forest cover remaining; what little forest remains is highly fragmented.

This region is mostly surrounded, to the east, west, and partly to the north by the slightly less flat and slightly better-drained Low Lime Drift Plain. Around the Cuyahoga river, this region is bordered to the north by the very rugged Erie Gorges. The southern border of this region is the limit of Wisconsin glaciation, where this region borders the Unglaciated Upper Muskingum Basin. There is also a very small border to the northeast with the Mosquito Creek/Pymatuning Lowlands.

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↑References

1. Woods, A.J, Omernik, J.M., Brockman, C.S., Gerber, T.D., Hosteter, W.D., Azevedo, S.H. "Ecoregions of Indiana and Ohio (Poster)", US Geological Survey (1998) Web.