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Anoka Sand Plain and Mississippi Valley Outwash

Ecoregion in MN

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This ecoregion is dominated by a sandy lake plain and terraces along the Mississippi River. The sand plain formed from outwash from the Mississippi River when it was blocked near St. Cloud by the Grantsburg lobe of the Wisconsin stage of glaciation and formed a course to the east, until it later developed drainage to the south in its present course. The presettlement vegetation was primarily oak openings and savanna in the sandy areas with an area of wet prairie in the eastern part of the ecoregion and with prairie on the terraces near the Mississippi. The soils are sandy forest Psamments in the extensive sandy areas with moist prairie Udolls on the terraces, moderately decomposed Hemists in the formerly wet prairie area, and small patches of forest Udalfs in the center of the ecoregion. Much of the southern half of the ecoregion is covered with sections of suburban development for the Twin Cities. The terraces north of Elk River are largely crop land; the former wet prairie is mainly bog with patches of aspen or other hardwoods. The rest of the northern part of the ecoregion is a mixture of row crops, pasture and hay, and woods. About 25% of this ecoregion was wetlands, 25% deciduous forest, and 20% in corn and soybeans in 2013.

— EPA

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Ecoregion