An upland region of the south-central United States extending from southwest Missouri across northwest Arkansas into eastern Oklahoma. Parts of the Ozarks are scenic tourist attractions.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
Ozark Mountains
For more information on Ozark Mountains, visit Britannica.com.
Columbia Encyclopedia:
the Ozarks,
or Ozark Plateau, upland region, actually a dissected plateau, c.50,000 sq mi (129,500 sq km), chiefly in S Mo. and N Ark., but partly in Oklahoma and Kansas, between the Arkansas and Missouri rivers. The Ozarks, which rise from the surrounding plains, are locally referred to as mountains. Composed of igneous rock overlain by limestone and dolomite, the ancient land form has been worn down by erosion. Summits (knobs) are found wherever there is a resistant rock outcrop; the Boston Mts. are the highest and most rugged section, with several peaks more than 2,000 ft (610 m) high. The Ozarks are rich in lead and zinc, and fruit-growing areas are prevalent. Subsistence farming and household crafts are found in the more isolated regions. The Ozarks have several large lakes that were created by dams across the White and Black rivers; the dams generate electricity. The scenic Ozarks, with forests, streams, and mineral springs, are a popular tourist region, and the construction of summer homes there has grown.
WordNet:
Ozark Mountains
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
an area of low mountains in northwestern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma
Synonyms: Ozarks, Ozark Plateau
Wikipedia:
the Ozarks
"Ozark" redirects here. For other uses, see Ozark
(disambiguation).
The Ozarks (also referred to as Ozarks Mountain Country, the Ozark Mountains or the Ozark Plateau) are a physiographic, geologic, and cultural highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the south half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwest and North central Arkansas. The region also extends westward into northeast Oklahoma and extreme southeast Kansas.
Although sometimes referred to as the Ozark Mountains, the region is a high and deeply dissected plateau. Geologically, the area is a broad dome around the Saint Francois Mountains. The Ozark Highlands area, covering nearly 47,000 square miles, is by far the most extensive mountainous region between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. Together, the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains form an area known as the U.S. Interior Highlands, and are sometimes referred to collectively. For example, the ecoregion called Ozark Mountain Forests includes the Ouachita Mountains, although the Arkansas River valley and the Ouachitas, both south of the Boston Mountains, are not usually considered part of the Ozarks.
Origin of the name
Etymology of the name is a subject of speculation.
"Ozarks" probably derives from a phonetic English spelling of the French abbreviation "aux Arks", short for "aux Arkansas" ("toward Arkansas")[1] Originally referring to the trading post at Arkansas Post on the Mississippi River, the term came to refer to the entire area drained by the Arkansas and White rivers. (The origin of the name "Arkansas" itself is speculated.) Another possible derivation is "aux arcs" meaning "toward the arches" in reference to a massive natural bridge that forms an arch at Alum Cove in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest.[citation needed] This arch was used as a landmark. It is even suggested "aux arcs" is an abbreviation of "aux arcs-en-ciel", French for "toward the rainbows" which are a common sight in the mountainous regions. After the Louisiana Purchase, American travelers in the region referred to various features of the upland areas using the term "Ozark", such as "Ozark Mountains" and "Ozark forests". By the early 20th Century, "The Ozarks" had become a generic term.[2]
Geographic subdivisions
The Ozarks consist of four primary physiographic sections—the Springfield Plateau, the Salem Plateau, the Saint Francois Mountains, and the Boston Mountains. Topography is mostly gently rolling, except in the Boston Mountains, along the escarpments separating the Springfield and Salem Plateaus, and the Saint Francois Range where it is rugged. Karst features such as springs, sinkholes, and caves are common in the limestones of the Springfield Plateau and abundant in the dolostone bedrock of the Salem Plateau and Boston Mountains.
The Boston Mountains are the highest section of the Ozarks. Summits can reach elevations of just over 2,560 feet (780m) with valleys 500 to 1,550 feet deep (150m to 450m). Turner Ward Knob (TWK) is the highest named peak. Located in western Newton County, Arkansas, its elevation is 2,463 feet (751m). Nearby, five unnamed peaks have elevations at or slightly above 2,560 feet (780m).
The Saint Francois Mountain Range rises above the Ozark Plateau and is the geological core of the highland dome. The igneous and volcanic rocks of the Saint Francois Mountains are the remains of a Precambrian mountain range. The core of the range existed as an island in the Paleozoic seas. Reef complexes occur in the 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 and continue to be mined in the area. 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.
Regional economy of the Ozarks
Traditional economic activity
The Ozarks contain ore deposits of lead, zinc, iron, and barite. Many of these deposits have been depleted by historic mining activities, but much remains and is currently being mined in the lead belt of south-central Missouri. Historically the Old Lead Belt around the Saint Francois Mountains and the Tri-state district lead-zinc mining area around Joplin, Missouri have been very important sources of metals. Much of the area supports beef cattle ranching and dairy farming is common across the area. Oil exploration and extraction also takes place in the Oklahoma portion of the Ozarks, as well as in the east half of the Boston Mountains in Arkansas. Logging of both softwood and hardwood timber species on both private land and in the National Forests has long been an important economic activity.
Growth industries
Tourism is the growth industry of the Ozarks as evidenced by the growth of the Branson, Missouri entertainment center. The Corps of Engineers lakes that were created by damming the White River in the mid 1950s have provided a large tourist, boating and fishing economy along the Missouri-Arkansas border. The Lake of the Ozarks and Truman Lake in the northern Ozarks were formed by damming the Osage River in 1931 and 1979 respectively. The Buffalo National River, created by an Act of Congress in 1972 as the Nation's first National River administered by the National Park Service, annually draws increasing numbers of canoeists, hikers, campers and cavers to northern Arkansas. In Missouri, the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, which while not officially a "national river," was the first US national park to be based on a river system, was established in 1964 along the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers. Over 1.3 million visitors come to the Eminence and Van Buren areas as tourists drawn by this river park.
Poultry farming and food processing has also been on the rise, recently, in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. The Tyson Foods corporation has food processing plants in western Arkansas; Stillwell foods has frozen vegetable and other food processing centers in eastern Oklahoma.
Logging and timber industries are also significant in the Ozark economy with operations ranging from small family run sawmills to large commercial concerns.
Ozark culture
Ozark also refers to a region of people with a distinct culture, architecture, and dialect shared by the people that live on the plateau. The people in this area have more in common with one another than with their surrounding states. Traditional Ozark culture is a mixture of cultures, similar to that of Appalachia and the Upland South and also with a slight touch of Lower Midwestern culture. Much of the population is of Scots-Irish descent, often including some Native American ancestry, and Ozark families tend to have lived in the area since the 19th century.
Ozark religion tends to be conservative, or individualistic, with Assemblies of God, Southern Baptists, and other Protestant Pentecostal groups predominant. The Ozarks are also home to some sects unique to the area. Beyond a few communities settled by German Catholics and those areas (mostly Washington County) of original French settlement, Catholicism is rare outside of the cities.
Homesteads in rural areas tend to be isolated instead of being clustered into villages. Early settlers relied on hunting, fishing and trapping to supplement their diets and incomes. Today hunting and fishing for recreation are common activities and an important part of the tourist industry. Foraging for mushrooms, especially morels, and for medicinal native plant species, including St. John's Wort and Ginseng, is common, and is financially supported by established buyers in the area.
Where the Red Fern Grows and the Shepherd of the Hills are books that take place in the Ozark Mountain Area. Other examples of the traditional nature of the Ozark culture would be the two major family theme parks in the region, Silver Dollar City and the now defunct Dogpatch U.S.A., both of which embrace rural, western, and 19th century life in the American midwest.
See also
- Green Country
- Arkansas River
- Buffalo National River
- United States physiographic regions
- List of U.S. multistate regions
- Ozark National Scenic Riverways
- Ozark Trail
- Ozark Highlands Trail
- Irish Wilderness
- Cookson Hills
- Vance Randolph
- USS Ozark (1863)
- USS Ozark (BM-7)
- USS Ozark (LSV–2)
- Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project
References
- ^ Stewart, George R. (1967). Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States, p. 137. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
- ^ Morrow, Lynn (1996). "Ozark/Ozarks: Establishing a Regional Term". White River Valley Historical Quarterly 36 (2). Retrieved on 2006-09-08.
- McMillen, Margot Ford (1996) A to Z Missouri: The Dictionary of Missouri Place Names, Columbia, Missouri, Pebble Publishing, ISBN 0-9646625-4-X
- Rafferty, Milton D. (2001) The Ozarks: Land and Life, University of Arkansas Press, 2nd ed., ISBN 1-55728-714-7
- Unklesbay, A.G; & Vineyard, Jerry D. (1992) Missouri Geology — Three Billion Years of Volcanoes, Seas, Sediments, and Erosion, University of Missouri Press, ISBN 0-8262-0836-3
External links
- Bryant Creek Watershed Atlas
- Missouri Conservation Natural Divisions Page
- Missouri Conservation Ozarks Guide
- Natural Divisions of Arkansas
- Ozark Mountain Forests Ecoregion
- Ozark National Scenic Riverways
- Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, Springdale, Arkansas
