The U.S. Interior Highlands is a mountainous

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in the

Central United States The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern United States, Eastern and Western United States, Western as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau's d ...

spanning northern and western

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 ...

, southern

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, eastern

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 ...

, and southern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The name is designated by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

to refer to the combined subregions of 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 ...

south of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

and the Ozark Plateaus north of the Arkansas. The U.S. Interior Highlands is one of few mountainous regions between the

Appalachians The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

and

Rockies The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

Geography

There are three distinct mountain ranges within the U.S. Interior Highlands: *The

of Arkansas and Oklahoma, which can be divided into a number of subranges including the mountains of the

Arkansas River Valley The Arkansas River Valley, also known as the Arkansas Valley, is a region in Arkansas defined by the Arkansas River in the western part of the state. Generally defined as the area between the The Ozarks, Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, the River V ...

(called the Frontal Ouachita Mountains); the highest point is

Mount Magazine Mount Magazine, officially named Magazine Mountain, is the highest point of the U.S. Interior Highlands and the U.S. state of Arkansas, and is the site of Mount Magazine State Park. It is a flat-topped mountain or mesa capped by hard rock and ...

at . *The

Boston Mountains The Boston Mountains is a Level III ecoregion designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Part of the Ozarks, the Boston Mountains are a deeply dissected plateau. The ecoregion is steepe ...

of the Arkansas and Oklahoma Ozark Plateaus; the highest point is Wahzhazhe Summit (formerly known as Buffalo Lookout), at , east of Pettigrew, Newton County, Arkansas. Wahzhazhe is the

Osage people The Osage Nation ( ) () is a Midwestern United States, Midwestern Native Americans in the United States, Native American nation of the Great Plains. The tribe began in the Ohio River, Ohio and Mississippi River, Mississippi river valleys arou ...

’s name for themselves in the Dhegiha Siouan language. *The

St. Francois Mountains The St. Francois Mountains in southeast Missouri are a mountain range of Precambrian igneous rock, igneous mountains rising over the The Ozarks, Ozark Plateau. This range is one of the oldest exposures of igneous rock, igneous rock (geology), rock ...

of the Missouri Ozark Plateaus; the highest point is

Taum Sauk Mountain Taum Sauk Mountain in the Saint Francois Mountains is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Missouri at 1,772 feet (540 m). The topography of Taum Sauk is that of an elongated ridge with a NNW-SSE orientation rather than a peak. Des ...

at . The U.S. Interior Highlands is dominated by

temperate broadleaf and mixed forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. Thes ...

s. Three

national forests National Forest may refer to: * National forest or state forest, a forest administered or protected by a sovereign state ** National forest (Brazil) ** National forest (France) ** National forest (United States) ** State Forests (Poland) ** The N ...

are located here: The

Ouachita National Forest The Ouachita National Forest is a vast congressionally-designated United States National Forest, National Forest that lies in the western portion of Arkansas and portions of extreme-eastern Oklahoma, USA. History The Ouachita National Forest is ...

in Arkansas and Oklahoma; the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest in Arkansas; and the

Mark Twain National Forest Mark Twain National Forest (MTNF) is a U.S. National Forest located in the southern half of Missouri, composed of nine disconnected parcels. MTNF was established on September 11, 1939. It is named for author Mark Twain, a Missouri native. The ...

in Missouri.

Gallery

File:20131103 1407 Ouachita Mountains.png, The Ouachita Mountains from Flatside Pinnacle (November 2013) File:20151216 1604 Boston Mountains.png, The Boston Mountains from Sam's Throne (December 2015) File:20170409 1354 St. Francois Mountains.png, The St. Francois Mountains from Hughes Mountain (April 2017)

References

Mountain ranges of the United States Physiographic regions of the United States Mountain ranges of Arkansas Mountain ranges of Missouri Mountain ranges of Oklahoma Mark Twain National Forest Ouachita Mountains Ozarks Ozark–St. Francis National Forest Regions of Oklahoma Regions of Arkansas Regions of Kansas Regions of Missouri

.01 Crossbreed is an American industrial metal band from Clearwater, Florida, formed in 1996. They were signed with Artemis Records before being dropped from the label in 2003. The band released two EPs and three full-length albums before disbandi ...

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