The U.S. Interior Highlands is a mountainous

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in the

Central United States The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern and Western as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the U.S. Census' definition of the Midwestern United States plus the western and central portions o ...

spanning northern and western

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 O ...

, southern

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, eastern Oklahoma, and extreme southeastern

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

. The name is designated by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

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 the western United Stat ...

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, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

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 (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 Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, the River Valley is cha ...

(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 r ...

at . *The Boston Mountains of the Arkansas and Oklahoma Ozark Plateaus; the highest point is Buffalo Lookout at . *The St. Francois Mountains of the Missouri Ozark Plateaus; the highest point is Taum Sauk Mountain 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. These ...

s. Three national forests are located here: The

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

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. MTNF was established on September 11, 1939. It is named for author Mark Twain, a Missouri native. The MTNF covers of which is public owned, ...

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

{{Mountains of Oklahoma Mountain ranges of the United States Physiographic regions of the United States Mountain ranges of Arkansas Mountain ranges of Kansas 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