What does the ozark plateau look like

Learn more about why so many people are fascinated with the area by reading our Ozark Mountains facts below! Eureka Springs is nestled among all the characteristic features of the Ozarks. It is a fantastic place to stay if you are looking to experience the splendor of the Ozarks while maintaining access to modern comforts.

If you are curious about what there is to do in the area, download our Vacation Guide! The majority of the region falls in Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas. Francois Mountains. The region enjoys a relatively cool and temperate climate, fresh mountain air, and pristine lakes and rivers. The Ozark region is known for an abundance of sparkling springs, waterfalls, lakes, caves, caverns, and sinks also known as karstic landforms. Much of the soil in the Ozark Plateau is rocky and thin, meaning only a thin layer covers solid rock below.

Combined with steep slopes, that makes most of the region unsuitable for farming. Cropland is restricted to the valley floors of Shoal Creek and Spring River. Many of the hillsides are covered with hardwood forests, predominantly oaks and hickories. Southeast Kansas averages more than 40 inches of precipitation a year, making the Ozark Plateau one of the wettest places in the state.

Both regions are composed of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. To the north, the Ozark Plateaus are formed by an asymmetrical low dome, steep on the eastern slope and shallow on the west. The rocks of the Ouachita province have been deformed and eroded to form a series of east-west trending ridges and valleys. The boundary between these provinces is marked by the Boston Mountains, a dissected plateau in the southern Ozark Plateaus; and the Arkansas Valley, a vast lowland in the north of the Ouachita Province.

The Ozark Plateaus are primarily limestone and dolomite, with some shale, sandstone and chert also present. In the eastern edge of the province, these sedimentary rocks have been completely eroded away, exposing Precambrian granite and porphyries. This area is collectively known as the St. Several distinct areas of hills have been cut into the plateau by rivers, most prominently along the White River and its tributaries.

Other extensive hills have been cut by the Spring and Strawberry rivers. The Salem Plateau is often underlain by dolomite or dolostone, similar to limestone. Although dolostone is not dissolved by water as readily as limestone, caves are present, as well as large springs such as the one at Mammoth Spring Fulton County.

The plateau surface and level hilltops have rocky soil originally covered with oak forests, open oak woodlands, and open rocky glades. The Salem Plateau had few areas easily adapted to agriculture, such as areas of deep alluvial soil or prairie. However, beginning in the late nineteenth century and extending through the twentieth century, recreational development became increasingly important. Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes, created by U.

The same may be said for Beaver Lake in the Springfield Plateau. The once sleepy little community of Mountain Home Baxter County , located between the two reservoirs with easy access to both, has become the largest city in the region. Cold water released from the reservoirs into rivers below the dams damaged the native aquatic ecosystem, and, as mitigation, the Corps built hatcheries to stock trout as an alternative.

This has also become a major outdoor recreation attraction, and White River trout fishing has become world famous. Hardy Sharp County and Mammoth Spring have become thriving communities in large part based on tourism associated with the Spring River and the Mammoth Spring at its source.

The most extensive land use and most important agricultural endeavor in the region is beef cattle pasturage. As with the Springfield Plateau, commercial timber production is limited, although small hardwood lumber mills are common, and charcoal is produced from hardwood in Yellville Marion County.

For additional information: Blevins, Brooks. A History of the Ozarks. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, — Foti, Thomas, and Gerald Hansen. Arkansas and the Land. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, Rafferty, Milton D. The Ozarks, Land and Life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,