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The Missouri Coteau, or Missouri Plateau, (french: Coteau du Missouri) is a large plateau that stretches along the eastern side of the valley of the Missouri River in central North Dakota and north-central South Dakota in the United States. In the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta this physiographic region is classified as the Uplands Missouri Coteau, which is a part of the Great Plains Province or Alberta Plateau Region, which extends across the southwest corner of the province of Saskatchewan as well as the southeast corner of the province of
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Terri ...
. Historically, in Canada the area was known as the
Palliser's Triangle Palliser's Triangle, or the Palliser Triangle, is a semi-arid steppe occupying a substantial portion of the Western Canadian Prairie Provinces, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, within the Great Plains region. While initially determined to be uns ...
and regarded as an extension of the
Great American Desert The term Great American Desert was used in the 19th century to describe the part of North America east of the Rocky Mountains to about the 100th meridian. It can be traced to Stephen H. Long's 1820 scientific expedition which put the Great Am ...
and unsuitable for agriculture and thus designated by Canadian
geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" ...
and explorer John Palliser. The terrain of the Missouri Coteau features low hummocky, undulating, rolling hills, potholes, and grasslands. Apart from being a geographical area, the Missouri Coteau also has a cultural connection to the people of the area, the
Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derive ...
people of South Dakota, along with other Indigenous groups. The history of this plateau is large, and the Missouri Coteau has a significance to these people.


Land and soil

Geologically Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
, the plateau is part of the extended plateau of the Great Plains in the Dakotas, and is separated from the main plateau to the west by the Missouri River Trench. The plateau is underlain by
Pierre Shale The Pierre Shale is a geologic formation or series in the Upper Cretaceous which occurs east of the Rocky Mountains in the Great Plains, from Pembina Valley in Canada to New Mexico. The Pierre Shale was described by Meek and Hayden in 1862 in t ...
covered with hardened deposits from repeated glaciations. The plateau also contains deposits of lignite,
mirabilite Mirabilite, also known as Glauber's salt, is a hydrous sodium sulfate mineral with the chemical formula Na2SO4·10H2O. It is a vitreous, colorless to white monoclinic mineral that forms as an evaporite from sodium sulfate-bearing brines. It is fo ...
(
sodium sulfate Sodium sulfate (also known as sodium sulphate or sulfate of soda) is the inorganic compound with formula Na2SO4 as well as several related hydrates. All forms are white solids that are highly soluble in water. With an annual production of 6 milli ...
), and
bentonite Bentonite () is an absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite. Na-montmorillonite has a considerably greater swelling capacity than Ca-mon ...
. While subjected to continental glaciation, it was north and west of the Driftless Area, an area which escaped glaciation. Agriculturally, The Missouri Coteau is known for grains and livestock agriculture, because the land cannot sustain many other forms of agriculture or farming.


Agriculture and growing conditions

The Missouri Coteau is known for being an area with difficult growing and agricultural conditions, and this is because of the weather and specific soil conditions of the land that makes growing a difficulty for this area. The plateau is poorly drained and is interspersed with glacial water deposits. This is because of the poor drainage in the area, and the plateau’s close proximity to the
Prairie Pothole Region The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR; french: Région des cuvettes/fondrières des prairies) is an expansive area of the northern Great Plains that contains thousands of shallow wetlands known as potholes. These potholes are the result of glacier act ...
. It is transversed by several broad sags marking the ancient stream valleys of the eastern continuations of the
Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and comm ...
, Moreau,
Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
, Bad, and White rivers. To the east of the plateau, the lowland valley of the
James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesape ...
was formed by the lobe of the most recent ice age, separating the plateau from the
Coteau des Prairies The Coteau des Prairies is a plateau approximately 200 miles in length and 100 miles in width (320 by 160 km), rising from the prairie flatlands in eastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa in the United States. ...
substantially. This specific area is also attached to the
Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...
, with forests and elevated areas remaining at a minimum on these flat lands.


See also

*
Geography of Saskatchewan The geography of Saskatchewan is unique among the provinces and territories of Canada in some respects. It is one of only two landlocked regions (Alberta is the other) and it is the only region whose borders are not based on natural features lik ...
*
Geography of North Dakota The Geography of North Dakota consists of three major geographic regions: in the east is the Red River Valley, west of this, the Missouri Plateau. The southwestern part of North Dakota is covered by the Great Plains, accentuated by the Badlands. ...
*
Geography of Alberta Alberta is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. Located in Western Canada, the province has an area of and is bounded to the south by the United States state of Montana along 49° north for ; to the east at 110° west by ...
* Geography of Montana *
Coteau des Prairies The Coteau des Prairies is a plateau approximately 200 miles in length and 100 miles in width (320 by 160 km), rising from the prairie flatlands in eastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa in the United States. ...
*
Cypress Hills (Canada) The Cypress Hills are a geographical region of hills in southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, Canada. The hills are part of the Missouri Coteau upland. The highest point in the Cypress Hills is at Head of the Mountain in Alberta ...
* Moose Mountain Upland


Sources

* John C. Hudson (8 February 2002). Across This Land: A Regional Geography of the United States and Canada. JHU Press. pp. 296–. . * Lass, W. (1965). The Fur Trade on the Upper Missouri, 1840-1865. Business History Review (pre-1986), 39(000003), 416 Retrieved from: https://uottawa primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/search * Natural Resources Canada, Earth Sciences Sector, & Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation. (n.d.). The Missouri Coteau. Retrieved from http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique?id=244e0c3dc6be11d892e2080020a0f4c9 * Penner, Lynden, "Missouri Coteau", The Encyclopedia of The Great Plains, retrieved 2007-05-16 * Phillips, R., Beeri, L., & DeKeyser, O. (2005). Remote wetland assessment for Missouri Coteau prairie glacial basins. Wetlands, 25(2), 335-349. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1672/10 * Richards, J.H.; Fung, K.I. (1969), Atlas of Saskatchewan, University of Saskatchewan: Modern Press * Shjeflo, Jelmer B. "Evapotranspiration and the Water Budget of Prairie Potholes in North Dakota". Archived from the original on 2012-04-26. Retrieved 2012-12-24.


References


External links


South Dakota's Physiographic Regions
* Metis in the United States {{Coord, 50.8, N, 109.2, W, display=title Great Plains Plateaus of the United States Regions of North Dakota Landforms of South Dakota Landforms of North Dakota Landforms of Saskatchewan Landforms of Alberta Plateaus of Canada