The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, is a “physiographic, geologic, and cultural highland region of the central United States which covers much of the southern half of Missouri and an extensive area of northwest Arkansas.
” The region extends to the west into southeast Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. While the region is referred to as the Ozark Mountains, it is actually a “high and deeply dissected” plateau. The Ozark Mountains consist of three sections: the Salem Plateau, the Springfield Plateau, and the Boston Mountains.The topography is mostly “gently rolling” with the exception of the Boston Mountains along the escarpments separating the Salem and Springfield Plateaus, and the Saint Francois Range where it is rugged.
The Saint Francois Mountain Range rises above the Ozark Mountains and is the geological cause of the highl
...and dome. The volcanic and igneous rocks of the Saint Francois Mountains are the remains of a Precambrian Mountain range. The core of the mountain range once existed as an island in the Paleozoic seas. Reef complexes occur in sedimentary layers surrounding this ancient island.
These “flanking reefs” were points of concentration for later ore bearing fluids which formed the rich lead-zinc ores that have been mined in the area. The Saint Francois Range is the core of the Ozarks, and was formed by volcanic activity as opposed to erosion. The igneous and volcanic rocks extend at depth under the relatively “thin veneer of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks” and form the basal crust of the entire region. Much of the area supports dairy farming and beef cattle ranching, and poultry farming is also on the rise in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
In the Oklahoma portion o
the Ozarks, oil exploration and extraction takes place. Logging of timber has also been an important economic activity for quite some time. The Ozarks also consist of a region of people with a distinct “culture, architecture, and dialect” that is shared by the people that live in the region. In the Ozark culture, much of the population is of Scots-Irish descent, including some Native American ancestry. Many Ozark families tend to have lived in the area since the 19th century.Ozark religion tends to be conservative or “individualistic,” predominantly with Assemblies of God, Southern Baptists, and other Protestant groups.
There are a few communities that were settled by German Catholics, but Catholicism is rare outside of the cites. Homesteads in rural areas tend to be isolated rather than being clustered into villages. In the past, early settlers relied on fishing, hunting, and trapping as a means of food and income, and today hunting and fishing for recreation are common activities.Hunting and fishing are also an important part of the tourist industry. One of the interesting attributes of this cultural and dialectic area is that the people have local names for the areas not well-known outside the region.
For example, people outside of the Ozarks usually do not refer to areas such as “Irish Wilderness,” (located in south central Missouri) “Shepard of the Hills Country,” (around Branson, Missouri) or “White River Hills” (along the Missouri-Arkansas border).
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