Shawnee Hills

The Shawnee Hills is a region of southern Illinois that rests mainly in an east-west arc roughly following the outline of the southern end of the Illinois Basin. Whereas Mississippian and Pennsylvania Age rock layers are deep beneath the soil surface in central Illinois, these strata pierce the surface in southern Illinois. The Shawnee Hills are surface expressions of the more weather-resistant limestone and sandstone layers. This formation is due in part to the last glaciation of the Ice Age (which tended to grind down hills and bury them under soil) not reaching this far south.

The Ozarks, a geologically similar area that for the most part begins just to the west across the Mississippi River floodplain in southeastern Missouri

.

Within the Shawnee Hills,

tectonic activities and formed sites for deposition of fluorite, a mineral used for production of the element fluorine. At one time, about 80% of the world's fluorspar ore was mined near the towns of Rosiclare and Cave in Rock

.

A large portion of the Shawnee Hills lies within the

Ohio River Valley

make the area a prime tourist destination.

The Shawnee Hills can be seen faintly from as far north as Vergennes. The westernmost portion of the hills rise south of Murphysboro and continue southward to Olive Branch. Large plains used for farmland separate the hills from the Mississippi River along Illinois Route 3, especially near the towns of Wolf Lake, Grand Tower and Ware. The Big Muddy River cuts through the hills south of Kinkaid Lake, making rocky cliffs that can be viewed by boat-ride down the river.

References

^ "Shawnee National Forest - Home". Fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-17.

37°30′N 88°40′W / 37.500°N 88.667°W / 37.500; -88.667

[1] "Shawnee National Forest - Home". Fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-17.

See also

References