Wet (hydric) flats include wetlands on mineral soils. In the southeastern United States wet pine
flats occur on the subdued and poorly dissected interfluvial marine terraces of the coastal plain.
Hydric conditions have developed on these interfluvial flats primarily in response to abundant
rainfall and slow drainage associated with a landscape of low relief. Based on the extent of
hydric soils mapped in each state, wet flats may comprise 20-30 percent of the coastal plain
landscape from southeastern Virginia to southeastern Texas. Wet flats on mineral soils are
primarily associated with poorly drained sandy and loamy Ultisols and Alfisols (mostly Aquults
and Aqualfs, respectively), but also are associated with various Spodosols, Inceptisols, and
Mollisols. Wet Pine Flats are characterized by an open savanna of shade-intolerant forbs and
graminoids with widely scattered pines.
Guidebooks
Rheinhardt, R. D., Rheinhardt, M. C., and Brinson, M. M. (2002). "A Regional Guidebook
for Applying the Hydrogeomorphic Approach to Assessing Wetland Functions of Wet
Pine Flats on Mineral Soils in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains,"
ERDC/EL TR-02-9,
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
(FCI Calculator)
Wet (hydric) flats include wetlands on mineral soils. In the southeastern United States wet pine
flats occur on the subdued and poorly dissected interfluvial marine terraces of the coastal plain.
Hydric conditions have developed on these interfluvial flats primarily in response to abundant
rainfall and slow drainage associated with a landscape of low relief. Based on the extent of
hydric soils mapped in each state, wet flats may comprise 20-30 percent of the coastal plain
landscape from southeastern Virginia to southeastern Texas. Wet flats on mineral soils are
primarily associated with poorly drained sandy and loamy Ultisols and Alfisols (mostly Aquults
and Aqualfs, respectively), but also are associated with various Spodosols, Inceptisols, and
Mollisols. Wet Pine Flats are characterized by an open savanna of shade-intolerant forbs and
graminoids with widely scattered pines.