Ecology and Taxonomy of Water Canyon, Canadian County, Oklahoma, Master's Thesis, University of Oklahoma 1961 [Revised 2013]

Abstract

Numerous canyons have been cut into the Rush Springs Sandstone of Permian age in West Central Oklahoma and subsequently refilled. Some of these canyons have been partly exposed by erosion of the sediment fill. Fossils collected indicate the canyon fill is sub-Pleistocene to geologically recent. The microclimate of these canyons is more mesic compared to the dryer prairie uplands. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) persists there, far west of its other locations in very eastern Oklahoma. Beginning in 1932 several of these sediment-filled canyons began a process of rapid erosion, exposing the rock walls of the canyons. This study is a comparison of Water Canyon and two of its branches: Water Branch Canyon, a stable canyon wooded with mature vegetation including sugar maple and Activity Branch Canyon, a newly excavated canyon branch that began eroding after excessive rainfall in 1932. This study was completed in 1960. Six transects are used to show the distribution of the 233 plant species found in the Water Canyon complex. Herbaceous species generally were unique to each canyon type.