Ozark Geology Books?

[bfishn]

UofA geology classes take feild trips to that bluff every year. They used to visit the bluff/cave/spring at the trout farm, but the current owner/resident probably quelled that. I accompanied a few of their excusions into that cave and wonderland cave (which are connected). I also explored Devils Hole and Hidden Cave, the latter being a small, but beautiful display of soda straws, and only accessable by a 100 ft rope thru a tiny sinkhole opening... straight down. Due to the danger and delicacy, I won't be revealing the access in hopes that it stays hidden.

The sedimentary limestone is full of marine fossils as you noted, but for some reason I never got too interested in them. Perhaps I was spoiled as a child, growing up in an area of glacial moraines in NC Mo, where I found an abundance of agates and petrified wood, all scooped up from somewhere up north and deposited by the melt in my backyard.

[jdmidwest]

Here are some more places on the net to read.

http://www.missourigeologists.org/FieldtripsandGuidebooks.htm

http://www.dnr.mo.gov/magazine/index.html

http://www.dnr.mo.gov/geology/geocolumn.htm

http://www.dnr.mo.gov/geology/adm/publications/gen_info.htm

http://quarriesandbeyond.org/states/mo/missouri.html

http://www.geology.ar.gov/home/index.htm

[Al Agnew]

The MO Geological Survey has put out various highway guidebooks through the years. I've got ones for I-44 and I-55 that tell you what kind of rock you're seeing in every road cut, and also describe other geologic sites close to the highways. They also have one for the St. Francois Mountain region that follows several roads and describes various sites. The "Roadside Geology of Missouri" book has much the same format, and is more up to date.

The Ozarks is actually three different plateaus, so it really isn't a land of hills or mountains, it's a land of hollows and valleys. The highest plateau is the Boston Mountain region in Arkansas, which drops off to the Springfield Plateau of Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri, and the lowest is the Salem Plateau, which covers north-central Arkansas and much of the Ozarks of Missouri. The only true "mountains" are the St. Francois Mountains centered around Ironton, MO, which are the remnants of very ancient volcanic mountains. The St. Francois Mountains are the only wide expanses of igneous (volcanic) rock exposed in the Ozarks, everything else is sedimentary rock, formed in ancient seas which have covered the whole region at various times.

I tend to relate the geology to the rivers as much as anything. The Buffalo comes out of the Boston Mountains, onto the Springfield Plateau around Erbie, where the bluffs suddenly get a lot lower. It mostly flows cutting into the Springfield Plateau from there on, but as it nears the mouth, it has cut deeply enough that it's on the level of the Salem Plateau, yet it's never far from the Bostons...the town of Marshall is at the foot of the Boston Mountain plateau.

Big River has perhaps the most varied geology of any stream in Missouri. It's higher sources come off the St. Francois Mountains, and it actually cuts through St. Francois Mountain igneous rock as far downstream as just below the mouth of Cedar Creek. It then flows through the Salem Plateau for much of it's length, but actually enters what passes for the Springfield Plateau, at least in the rock it flows through, near its mouth. So while the Buffalo flows from highest plateau with youngest rock to lowest plateau with oldest rock from source to mouth, Big River starts in the oldest rock and flows through progressively younger rocks all the way to its mouth.

[Al Agnew]

Just to revisit this topic a bit...if you're interested in the geology of the Buffalo River area, Buffalo River Handbook, by Kenneth Smith, greatly expands upon what he wrote about geology in The Buffalo River Country. It also goes into detail about earlier settlers, and is a pool by pool description of the river itself and a nearly rock by rock description of the major hikes. It almost tells you MORE than you want to know about those things.

[Quillback]

Thanks - I'll put it on my "to read list".

[Wayne SW/MO]

growing up in an area of glacial moraines in NC Mo

bfishn what county would this be. I spent much of my childhood in Grundy?

[bfishn]

Grew up in Macon county, lived in Chillicothe as a young man. The best rock hounding was near Kirksville.

[Quillback]

Grew up in Macon county, lived in Chillicothe as a young man. The best rock hounding was near Kirksville.

What did you find there?

[bfishn]

Lake Superior agate, honey agate, petrified wood, jasper, geodes, plus lots of arrowheads

[Quillback]

Not a rock hound myself, so did a search on Lake Superior agates - saw some listings on Ebay, that stuff is worth a buck or two. Arrowheads can fetch a few bucks these days also. My grandparents had a farm in SE MO that had an indian mound on it, used to be able to pick up a lot of broken arrowheads on it when I was a kid. Used to find one every once in a while when chukkar hunting in WA state.