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Sediments: 300-250 years ago, wind-blown and slopewash sediments were deposited. The soil named Singer Soil began forming 100 years ago. Plants:
During the Historic period, general conditions at Lubbock Lake
remained the same as during the Protohistoric Period. Sedge beds
surrounded the marsh and hackberry, walnut, and cottonwood or
willow (Salicaceae) grew along the
valley axis. Mesquite, devil's claw, nightshade, and prickly poppy
could be found in the draw or along its slopes. On the open prairie,
a mesquite savanna surrounded the extensive marsh with a shortgrass
regime that included forbs and other herbaceous plants. During this period, explorers and botanists of the Southern High Plains, R.B. Marcy (1850), J. Pope (1855), and John Torrey and Asa Gray (1855) recorded a variety of vegetation that complements the archaeological plant evidence. These include buffalo and grama grasses, mesquite, Tahoka daisy (Machaeranthera tanacetifolia), Gordon bladderpod (Lesquerella gordonii), copper mallow (Sphaeralcea angustifolia), white milkwort (Polygala alba), woolly locoweed (Astragalus mollissimus), James's rush pea (Caesalpinia jamesii), wavy leaf thistle (Cirsium undulatum), and bulrush and spike rushes. European influence affected the area as well. New plants were introduced by accident, as in the case of Russian thistle or tumbleweed, or on purpose, such as the planting of Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila) at the reservoir in 1938 to prevent erosion. Mesquite spread rapidly due to the effective fire controls in the early 20th Century action so that seedlings were not burned out. As the water table dropped, many of the marsh species suffered. The
Landmark Today:
The area today is a mesquite savanna, with mesquite providing
the dominant top cover and numerous forbs and herbaceous plants
mixed in with grasses. Blue grama and buffalo grasses are the
most dominant grasses at the Landmark although both native and
non-native species now occur. Many opportunistic plants have taken
advantage of the disturbed sediments of the area such as the Russian
thistle and the buffalo gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima).
The reservoir cut, occasionally dry from periodic summer droughts,
remains active usually with one large pond and several smaller
isolated pools, surrounded by native rushes and cattails. The
original Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumilla)
trees were planted in 1938 around the reservoir to prevent erosion
and have spread across the basin since.
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