The Boston Mountains is a Level III ecoregion designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. Part of the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...

, the Boston Mountains are a deeply dissected plateau. The ecoregion is steeper than the adjacent Springfield Plateau to the north, and bordered on the south by the Arkansas Valley. The Oklahoma portion of the range is locally referred to as the Cookson Hills. There are several theories of how the mountains were named, though apparently none are related to the Massachusetts city. The Boston Mountains ecoregion has been subdivided into two Level IV ecoregions.

Description

The ecoregion is mountainous, forested, and underlain by Pennsylvanian

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, shale, and siltstone. It is one of the Ozark Plateaus; some folding and faulting has occurred but, in general, strata are much less deformed than in the

Ouachita Mountains The Ouachita Mountains (), simply referred to as the Ouachitas, are a mountain range in western Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. They are formed by a thick succession of highly deformed Paleozoic strata constituting the Ouachita Fold and Thru ...

. Maximum elevations are higher, soils have a warmer temperature regime, and carbonate rocks are much less extensive than in the Ozark Highlands. Physiography is distinct from the Arkansas Valley. Upland soils are mostly Ultisols that developed under oak-hickory and oak-hickory-pine forests. Today, forests are still widespread; northern red oak, southern red oak, white oak, and hickories usually dominate the uplands, but shortleaf pine grows on drier, south- and west-facing slopes underlain by sandstone. Pastureland or hayland occur on nearly level ridgetops, benches, and valley floors. Population density is low; recreation, logging, and livestock farming are the primary land uses. Water quality in streams is generally exceptional; biochemical, nutrient, and mineral water quality parameter concentrations all tend to be very low. Fish communities are mostly composed of sensitive species; a diverse, often darter-dominated community occurs along with nearly equal proportions of minnows and sunfishes. During low flows, streams usually run clear but, during high flow conditions, turbidity in the Boston Mountains tends to be greater than in the Ouachitas. Summer flow in many small streams is limited or non-existent but isolated, enduring pools may occur.

Geology and physiography

The Boston Mountains are a physiographic section of the larger Ozark Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the larger Interior Highlands physiographic division. The area is underlain by Pennsylvanian sandstone, shale, and siltstone, where some folding and faulting has occurred. The sandstone beds become thinner with higher shale content in the west as the mountains decline in elevation. The range covers an area of .Gromadzki, Gregory and Richard Marston. "Boston Mountains". ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.
Accessed September 27, 2016. The rocks of the region are essentially little disturbed, flat-lying sedimentary layers of the Paleozoic age. The highest ridges and peaks are capped by Pennsylvanian

and shale. The deeply eroded valleys are cut into Mississippian

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

s and below that layer

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

dolomites.

General description

The Boston Mountains form the southwestern part of the Ozark plateau where they are the highest portion of the Ozarks. Summits can reach elevations of just over with valleys to deep. Wahzhazhe Summit (formerly known as Buffalo Lookout), is the highest point in the Ozarks at , and is located in the Boston Mountains, east of Boston, Madison County, Arkansas, at N35.8637°, W093.4931°. Wahzhazhe is the Osage people’s name for themselves in the Dhegiha Siouan language. Turner Ward Knob (TWK) is the second highest named peak, east of Wahzhazhe Summit. Its elevation is . Nearby, four other unnamed peaks have elevations at or slightly above .''Fallsville, Arkansas,'' 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1967 The other three highest peaks are located south-southwest of Turner Ward Knob along Arkansas Highway 16.[NAD83 geographic coordinates for TWK are N35.8631°, W093.4544°. Coordinates for the four unnamed highest peaks are N35.8607°, W093.4935°; N35.8151°, W093.4968°; N35.8126°, W093.4984°; and N35.7990°, W093.5005°] All of these highest points are located in the westernmost part of Newton County, Arkansas.

Rivers and streams

The Boston Mountains are the source of rivers and streams that flow out from the mountains in all directions. Within a radius of a point just west of the summits discussed above are located the sources of the White River, the Buffalo River, the Kings River, War Eagle Creek, and Little Mulberry Creek. Other rivers and streams having their headwaters in the Boston Mountains include the

Illinois River The Illinois River () is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines ...

, the Mulberry River, Lee Creek, Frog Bayou, Big Piney Creek, Illinois Bayou, and the Little Red River. To the south, the Arkansas River valley separates the Boston Mountains from the

. In Arkansas, the Boston Mountains are found in the following counties: Boone, Carroll, Cleburne,

Conway Conway may refer to: Places United States * Conway, Arkansas * Conway County, Arkansas * Lake Conway, Arkansas * Conway, Florida * Conway, Iowa * Conway, Kansas * Conway, Louisiana * Conway, Massachusetts * Conway, Michigan * Conway Townshi ...

, Crawford, Franklin, Independence, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Newton,

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, Searcy, Stone, Van Buren, and Washington. In Oklahoma, the Boston Mountains are found in these counties: Adair, Cherokee, Muskogee, Sequoyah, and Wagoner.

Gallery

Landscapes

File:Near Whitaker Point - Hawksbill Crag - panoramio.jpg, Buffalo Wilderness File:Hawksbill Crag trail 006.jpg, View from Hawksbill Crag File:Boston Mountains. Looking East on Gaither Mountain.jpg, Looking east on Gaither Mountain from AR 43. The plateau of the Boston Mountains is clearly visible on the right. File:BuffaloRiver.jpg, Buffalo River from river trail overlook near Steel Creek in the Boston Mountains File:Low Gap, Arkansas 002.jpg, Low Gap community in the Boston Mountains File:Scenic Lookout on White Rock Mountain.jpg, White Rock Mountain

References

External links