Mount Magazine, officially named Magazine Mountain, is the highest point of the
U.S. Interior Highlands
The U.S. Interior Highlands is a mountainous region in the Central United States spanning northern and western Arkansas, southern Missouri, eastern Oklahoma, and extreme southeastern Kansas. The name is designated by the United States Geologica ...
and the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
, and is the site of
Mount Magazine State Park
Mount Magazine State Park is a 2,234-acre park located in Logan County, Arkansas. Inhabited since the 1850s, Mount Magazine first became part of the Ouachita National Forest in 1938, was re-designated as part of the Ozark National Forest in 1941 ...
. It is a flat-topped mountain or
mesa
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by ...
capped by hard rock and rimmed by precipitous cliffs. There are two summits atop the mountain: Signal Hill, which reaches , and Mossback Ridge, which reaches .
Mount Magazine is often called "the highest point between the
Alleghenies
The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...
and the
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 great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Can ...
", however, there are mountains located in
far west Texas
The Trans-Pecos, as originally defined in 1887 by the Texas geologist Robert T. Hill, is the portion of Texas that lies west of the Pecos River. The term is considered synonymous with Far West Texas, a subdivision of West Texas. The Trans-Pe ...
, that exceed Mount Magazine in elevation and prominence.
Etymology
According to English botanist
Thomas Nuttall
Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an England, English botany, botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841.
Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle, North Yorkshire, S ...
, writing in 1819, French hunters named mountain "Magazine" or "Barn" (French ) because of its "peculiar form".
However, today some scholars believe Nuttall may have been writing about nearby
Mount Nebo
Mount Nebo ( ar, جَبَل نِيبُو, Jabal Nībū; he, , Har Nəḇō) is an elevated ridge located in Jordan, approximately above sea level. Part of the Abarim mountain range, Mount Nebo is mentioned in the Bible as the place where Moses ...
, and what is today called Mount Magazine was labeled "Castete Mt" on Nuttall's maps.
Location
Mount Magazine is located due north of
Blue Mountain Lake Blue Mountain Lake may refer to:
* Blue Mountain Lake (Arkansas), a reservoir in Arkansas
* Blue Mountain Lake (New York lake), a lake in Hamilton County in the central Adirondacks, New York
* Blue Mountain Lake (hamlet), New York, a hamlet in the T ...
in
Logan County, Arkansas
Logan County (formerly Sarber County) is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,353. Its two county seats are Booneville and Paris.
History
The Arkansas General Assembly defined the state ...
, approximately east of the Arkansas-Oklahoma border. The most scenic route to the top is a drive along
Highway 309 (also known as the Mount Magazine Scenic Byway) from
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. .
Many consider Mount Magazine to be part 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 ...
, though it is really part of the
Arkansas River Valley
The Arkansas River Valley (usually shortened to River 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 ...
.
It lies within a southern extension of the
Ozark National Forest
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, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...
despite being much closer to 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 t ...
.
Climate
The climate is very different from the typical climate of the Arkansas state as temperatures remain 10 degrees cooler than normal temperatures in the valleys. The annual average temperature is 56 °F. The park gets 54 inches of rainfall every year, and due to the low clouds, there is fog and limited visibility all year for eight days each month.
Summer
The summer temperature very rarely reaches 100 degrees Fahrenheit on the mountaintop and the hottest average temperature during the summer in the park is 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Winter
The mountain has limited forest due to the harsh weather during the wintertime. Normal conditions like frost, sleet, hail, snow, and freezing rain can cause the limbs on trees to snap. Higher up on the mountain,
frost flower
A frost flower or ice flower is formed when thin layers of ice are extruded from long-stemmed plants in autumn or early winter. The thin layers of ice are often formed into exquisite patterns that curl into "petals" that resemble flowers.
Typ ...
s,
ice crystals
Ice crystals are solid ice exhibiting atomic ordering on various length scales and include hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, dendritic crystals, and diamond dust.
Formation
The hugely symmetric shapes are due to depositional growth, na ...
,
hoarfrost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a ga ...
,
rime ice
Rime ice forms when supercooled water liquid droplets freeze onto surfaces. Meteorologists distinguish between three basic types of ice forming on vertical and horizontal surfaces by deposition of supercooled water droplets. There are also interm ...
, and
freezing fog
Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influe ...
can occur.
Geology
![20131026 1523 Mount Magazine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/20131026_1523_Mount_Magazine.png)
As the South American plate collided with the North American plate during the late
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
, a major
foreland basin
A foreland basin is a structural basin that develops adjacent and parallel to a mountain belt. Foreland basins form because the immense mass created by crustal thickening associated with the evolution of a mountain belt causes the lithospher ...
, the Arkoma Basin, developed north 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 ...
.
Small grains of sediment that had filled the Arkoma Basin were compacted and cemented into sedimentary rock.
As the land rose above sea level, small streams developed that eventually merged into 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 the western United Stat ...
.
After millions of years of erosion,
syncline
In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimpose ...
s like Mount Magazine have become the most positive topographic features; this phenomenon is the result of the rapid weathering of shales once sandstones were breached on the flanks of surrounding
anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...
s.
Mount Magazine is a broad
mesa
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by ...
composed of
Pennsylvanian sedimentary rocks deposited in various shallow-water environments.
Like many mountains in the western
Arkansas River Valley
The Arkansas River Valley (usually shortened to River 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 ...
, Mount Magazine is capped by the Savanna Formation, a sequence of
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
,
siltstone
Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...
, and
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
; the upper portion of this sequence is missing throughout most of Arkansas.
The Savanna Formation is conformable with the underlying McAlester Formation, a sequence of shale, siltstone, sandstone, and a number of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
beds.
The McAlester Formation is conformable with the underlying Hartshorne Sandstone, a prominent ledge-former under favorable structural conditions.
The Hartshorne Sandstone is unconformable with the underlying Atoka Formation. This unit has the largest areal extent of any of the
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
formations in Arkansas, extending as far north as 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 steeper ...
, and is divided into upper, middle, and lower members.
Nature & Attractions
Mount Magazine promotes environment conservation through an Eco-friendly nature attraction which allows visitors to explore nature.
It also consists of 18 campsites for nature-lovers.
An annual butterfly festival is hosted each June in the Paris town square.
Animals
The park is home to many species including the
shagreen snail,
black bear
Black bear or Blackbear may refer to:
Animals
* American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species
* Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species
Music
* Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...
,
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
,
rufous-crowned sparrow
The rufous-crowned sparrow (''Aimophila ruficeps'') is a small American sparrow. This passerine is primarily found across the Southwestern United States and much of the interior of Mexico, south to the transverse mountain range, and to the Pa ...
s (rare), and 94 of the 134 butterfly species of Arkansas. The most rare butterfly species is the Diana Fritillary.
Activities
Activities include the following: hiking, biking, bird watching, horseback riding, hang gliding, rappelling, rock climbing, sightseeing, and photography.
ATV riding is also allowed as there is a guide to the activity.
See also
*
List of mountains of Arkansas
*
List of U.S. states by elevation
This list includes the topographic elevations of each of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.
The elevation of a geographic area may be stated in several ways. These include:
#The maximum elevation of the a ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magazine, Mount
Highest points of U.S. states
Protected areas of Logan County, Arkansas
Mountains of Arkansas
Ozark–St. Francis National Forest
Landforms of Logan County, Arkansas