Geography of Missouri
- a north-western upland plain or prairie region part of the Interior Plains' Central Lowland (areas Osage Plain 12f and Dissected Till Plains 12e) known as the northern plains
- a lowland in the extreme southeast areas 3e) or the Mississippi embayment
- the Missouri portion of the OzarkPlateau (areas 14a and 14b) which lies between the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and the Central lowland.
The boundary between the northern plains and the Ozark region follows the
Regions
Northern Plains
The Dissected
It is more hilly and broken in its western half than in its eastern half. The elevation in the extreme northwestern Missouri is about 1,200 ft (370 m). and in the extreme northeastern portion about 500 ft (150 m)., while the rim of the region to the southeast, along the border of the Ozark region, has an elevation of about 900 ft (270 m). The valleys for the larger streams are about 250 to 300 ft (91 m) deep and sometimes 8 to 20 miles (32 km) wide with the country bordering them being the most broken of the region.
The smaller streams have so eroded the whole face of the country that little of the original surface plain is to be seen. The Mississippi River runs along the length of Missouri's eastern side and is skirted throughout by topographic relief of 400 to 600 ft (180 m). elevation.
Ozark Plateau
The Ozark region is essentially a low dome, with local faulting and minor undulations, dominated by a ridge or, more exactly, a relatively even belt of highland that runs from near the Mississippi river about Ste. Genevieve to McDonald County on the Arkansas border. High rocky bluffs rise precipitously on the Mississippi, sometimes to a height of 150 ft (46 m) or so above the water, from the mouth of the Meramec River to Ste. Genevieve. These mark where that river cuts the Ozark ridge. Across the Mississippi River, this ridge is continued by the Shawnee Hills in Illinois.
The elevations of the crests in Missouri vary from 1,100 to 1,700 ft (520 m). This second physiographic region comprises somewhat less than two-thirds of the area of the state. The Burlington
Superficially, each is a simple rolling plateau, much broken by erosion (though considerable undissected areas drained by underground channels remain), especially in the east, and dotted with hills. Some of these are residual outliers of the eroded
The two highest points in the state are
Mississippi Alluvial Plain
The third region, the lowlands of the south-east and part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, has an area of some 3,000-square-mile (7,800 km2). It is an undulating country, for the most part well drained, but swampy in its lowest portions. The Mississippi is skirted with lagoons, lakes and morasses from Ste. Genevieve to the
Climate
Missouri generally has a humid continental climate with cool, sometimes cold, winters and hot, humid, and wet summers. In the southern part of the state, particularly in the Bootheel, the climate becomes humid subtropical. Located in the interior United States, Missouri often experiences extreme temperatures. Without high mountains or oceans nearby to moderate temperature, its climate is alternately influenced by air from the cold Arctic and the hot and humid Gulf of Mexico. Missouri's highest recorded temperature is 118 °F (48 °C) at Warsaw and Union on July 14, 1954, while the lowest recorded temperature is −40 °F (−40 °C) also at Warsaw on February 13, 1905.
Located in
Monthly normal high and low temperatures for various Missouri cities in °F (°C). | |||||||||||||||
City | Avg. | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Columbia | High | 37 (3) |
44 (7) |
55 (13) |
66 (19) |
75 (24) |
84 (29) |
89 (32) |
87 (31) |
79 (26) |
68 (20) |
53 (12) |
42 (6) |
65.0 (18.3) |
|
Columbia | Low | 18 (−8) |
23 (−5) |
33 (1) |
43 (6) |
53 (12) |
62 (17) |
66 (19) |
64 (18) |
55 (13) |
44 (7) |
33 (1) |
22 (−6) |
43.0 (6.1) |
|
Kansas City | High | 36 (2) |
43 (6) |
54 (12) |
65 (18) |
75 (24) |
84 (29) |
89 (32) |
87 (31) |
79 (26) |
68 (20) |
52 (11) |
40 (4) |
64.4 (18.0) |
|
Kansas City | Low | 18 (−8) |
23 (−5) |
33 (1) |
44 (7) |
54 (12) |
63 (17) |
68 (20) |
66 (19) |
57 (14) |
46 (8) |
33 (1) |
22 (−6) |
44.0 (6.7) |
|
Springfield | High | 42 (6) |
48 (9) |
58 (14) |
68 (20) |
76 (24) |
85 (29) |
90 (32) |
90 (32) |
81 (27) |
71 (22) |
56 (13) |
46 (8) |
67.6 (19.8) |
|
Springfield | Low | 22 (−6) |
26 (−3) |
35 (2) |
44 (7) |
53 (12) |
62 (17) |
67 (19) |
66 (19) |
57 (14) |
46 (8) |
35 (2) |
26 (−3) |
45.0 (7.2) |
|
St. Louis | High | 40 (4) |
45 (7) |
56 (13) |
67 (19) |
76 (24) |
85 (29) |
89 (32) |
88 (31) |
80 (27) |
69 (21) |
56 (13) |
43 (6) |
66.2 (19.0) |
|
St. Louis | Low | 24 (−4) |
28 (−2) |
37 (3) |
47 (8) |
57 (14) |
67 (19) |
71 (22) |
69 (21) |
61 (16) |
49 (9) |
38 (3) |
27 (−3) |
48.0 (8.9) |
|
Source:[1] |
Drainage
The drainage of the state is wholly into the
Both the Ozark region and the northern plain region are divided by minor escarpments into ten or twelve sub-regions. There are remarkable differences in the drainage areas of their two sides, with interesting illustrations of shifting water-partings; and the White, Gasconade, Osage and other rivers are remarkable for upland meanders, lying, not on flood-plains, but around the spurs of a highland country. These incised meanders have been interpreted to have formed by downward erosion after uplift of an older peneplain surface.
Many streams in Missouri are called "rivers" though they are small enough perhaps to be called "creeks". This is due to a direct translation of the French word "rivière" which implies a stream size smaller than the French word "fleuve", meaning "a river that flows to the sea". An example of this is "
Caves
The Ozarks region has a well-developed karst topography with numerous areas of sinkholes, stream capture, and cavern development.
Caves, within areas of limestone and dolomite bedrock, occur in great numbers in and near the Ozark Mountain region in the southwestern part of Missouri. More than a hundred have been discovered in Stone County alone, and there are many in Christian, Greene and McDonald counties.
Marvel Cave is located a short distance southeast of the center of Stone county. The entrance originally was through a large sink-hole at the top of Roark Mountain, though now an easier entrance has been made. Marvel Cave has a large hall-like room about 350 ft (110 m) long and about 125 ft (38 m) wide with bluish-grey limestone walls, and a vaulted roof, rising from 100 to 295 ft (90 m). Due to its acoustic properties the room has been named the Auditorium. At one end is a large stalagmite formation about 65 ft (20 m) in height and about 200 ft (61 m) in girth, called the White Throne.
Exploration of Jacobs Cavern, near Pineville, McDonald county, revealed human and animal skeletons along with crude implements. Crystal Cave, near Joplin, Jasper county, has its entire surface lined with calcite crystals and scalenohedron formations, from 1 to 2 ft (0.61 m) in length.
Other caves include Friede's Cave, about six miles (10 km) northeast of Rolla, Phelps County and Mark Twain Cave (in Marion County, about one mile (1.6 km) south of Hannibal), which has a deep pool containing many eyeless fish.
See also
- List of Missouri state parks
- Mountain peaks of Missouri
References
- ^ "Missouri Weather And Climate". Archived from the original on May 5, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2007.
- Guccione, M., 1983, Quaternary sediments and their weathering history in north central Missouri. Boreas. vol. 12, pp. 217–226.
- Rovey, C.W., IIa and W.F. Keanb, 1996, Pre-Illinoian Glacial Stratigraphy in North-Central Missouri. Quaternary Research. vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 17–29
- Unklesbay, A.G; & Vineyard, Jerry D. (1992). Missouri Geology—Three Billion Years of Volcanoes, Seas, Sediments, and Erosion. ISBN 0-8262-0836-3
- Bretz, J Harlen. Caves of Missouri. 2012 reprint: J. Missouri. ISBN 978-0-988668-50-8
External links
public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Missouri". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 607–614. (See p. 608.)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the