From Sea to Prairie--16--Landforms

Page 16--Landforms and Landscapes, continued

Wellington-McPherson Lowlands

Early Permian seas helped shape the Flint Hills, the Osage Cuestas, and the Chautauqua Hills in eastern Kansas. Later Permian seas in central and western Kansas left behind thick layers of salt, which was buried by other sediment and remained hidden for millions of years until it was accidentally discovered in 1887 by drillers looking for oil and gas near Hutchinson. This salt turned out to be part of a large bed that underlies much of central and western Kansas. Today, salt mining is a major industry in Reno, Rice, and Ellsworth counties.

Much of the salt is brought to the surface by miners who spend their workdays chipping, drilling, and dynamiting salt in caverns more than 600 feet underground. Most salt from underground mining is used in industry or to melt ice from roads in winter. Table salt, also mined in the area, is brought to the surface by drilling a hole deep in the ground and forcing water down it, dissolving the salt. The salt solution is then forced up to the surface where the water is evaporated, leaving the salt behind.

Because the salt contains no moisture, some of the caverns that are no longer mined are now used for storing things such as government papers and old Hollywood films. Underground salt is also dissolved to form caverns for storage of natural gas and similar products. Limestone and shale beds above and below the salt keep water out of the cavern.

Red Hills

The Red Hills, like the Ozark Plateau in southeastern Kansas, are probably not the image a tourist or even many Kansans would conjure up when thinking of Kansas. Though both regions are in the southern part of the state, they don't look alike. The Ozark Plateau in the southeast corner has tree-covered rolling hills. In contrast, the Red Hills in south-central Kansas don't get as much rainfall, so, except for cedars that dot the landscape, trees are sparse and the air is dry.

Barber County

Thick shales and soil in this region are red because they contain iron oxide, also known as rust. The hills, of course, got their name from their color but they just as easily could have been named Flat-top Hills because of their shape. Many of the hills in the region are flat-topped, a shape not commonly found in Kansas. Flat-topped hills known as mesas and buttes are more commonly found in the desert southwest in Arizona or New Mexico.

Sometimes hills and valleys are formed when underground rocks, rather than surface rocks, are eroded away. Big Basin and Little Basin in the Red Hills region in Clark County were formed when underground salt and gypsum deposits were dissolved by water, creating empty spaces between rock layers. The land above collapsed into the empty space, leaving a dip in the ground. Holes formed in this way are called sinkholes.

Sinkholes come in all sizes, some only a few feet across. Others are very large. Big Basin is a mile across, about 100 feet deep, and has a highway running through it. Many of Kansas' natural lakes and ponds are water-filled sinkholes. St. Jacob's Well, a pool in the bottom of Little Basin, was formed by a spring.

Kansas Geological Survey
Placed online Feb. 1, 1996
Comments to webadmin@kgs.ku.edu
URL = http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/primer/primer16.html