Dead Lake NEON - United States of America

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https://deims.org/d08e33e3-c000-4572-87fd-553cf5296459

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This record was created automatically using information from the:
Basic Information
Site Name
Dead Lake NEON
Short name
DELA
Country
United States of America
Web Address
https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/dela
Site Manager
David Mitchell
Site Description
Dead Lake (DELA) is a terrestrial NEON field site located in seasonally-flooded hardwood bottomland in Greene County, Alabama. This site has a sampling area of about 4 km2 (1013 acres) and is hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Greene County is bordered by the Tombigbee, Warrior, and Sipsey rivers within the Black Warrior River watershed. The county is known for its hunting and fishing. DELA is located in an area called the "Blackbelt," an area known for its nutrient-rich, dark soil. This site is part of the NEON Ozarks Complex Domain (D08). D08 includes two other terrestrial field sites and three aquatic field sites. DELA is colocated with the aquatic site Black Warrior River near Dead Lake (BLWA).
Relationships to other sites
This site groups with:
Last modified
2025-09-17 13:55:06

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2015
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
NEON✔ (DELA)This site is a verified "NEON" member.
Photos
DELA tower
DELA tower
Geographic
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 32.54172 Longitude: -87.80389

Size
ca. 410.00ha
Elevation (average)
25.00msl
Elevation (min)
21.00msl
Elevation (max)
41.00msl
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Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
GEO-BON Biome
Fresh water rivers
Biome
Fresh Water Rivers
Ecosystem Type
Forest
Evergreen Forest
Air Temperature: Average Annual
17.60°C
Precipitation Annual
1290.00mm
Geology
DELA is located in the Southern Coastal Plain, an area bounded by an erosional scarp from the Atlantic shoreline during the Mesozoic. The region was exposed and submerged beneath sea level several times, leaving marine deposits of sand and carbonates as well as riverine deposits of clay, silt, sand, and gravel. In the specific NEON sampling area there are Quartenary-aged alluvial, coastal, and terrace deposits. Upstream alluvial deposits are primarily sourced from the Cretaceous Eutaw and Tuscaloosa formations.
Vegetation
Broadleaf deciduous forest with concentrations of low needleleaf evergreen trees and patches of bluestem prairie are typical of the region. In the lowland area, hardwood tree species dominate, particularly oak and hickory species. Upland areas feature a higher concentration of pine species. Specifically, the overstory at DELA is abroad mix of cypress (Taxodium spp.), black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), oaks, and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica). Ground cover includes bamboo, grass, smilax, and poison ivy (Toxicodendrom radicans).
Soils
Soils at DELA are in the order utisols, and the soil subgroup Aquic Paleudults, which are characterized as fine, mixed, semiactive, and thermic. The major soil series on the site include Angie and Leaf, with some areas of Cahaba, Dulac and inclusions of Annemaine. These kinds of soils form on flood plain steps and stream terraces.
Hydrology
DELA is located near the Black Warrior River, which begins at the confluence of the Locust, Mulberry, and Sipsey Forks in northern Alabama, and ends at its confluence with the Tombigbee River near Demopolis, AL. Black Warrior River drains from a 16,160 km2 (nearly 4 million acres) watershed, or 12.2% of Alabama’s land area. The watershed is subject to major precipitation pulses from tropical storms and hurricanes. These major events affect nutrient and organic matter flux, sediment transport, and biota along the gradient as they propagate downstream.
Site Type
Non-stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
mainly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
beyond catchment scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
beyond catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Accessible All Year
Yes
Permanent Operation
No