Geographic and ecological region of Kansas and Oklahoma, United States
The
Flint Hills
, historically known as
Bluestem Pastures
or
Blue Stem Hills
,
[1]
are a region of
hills
and
prairies
that lie mostly in eastern
Kansas
. It is named for the abundant residual
flint
eroded from the bedrock that lies near or at the surface. It consists of a band of hills extending from
Marshall
and
Washington
Counties in the north to
Cowley County, Kansas
and
Kay
and
Osage
Counties in Oklahoma in the south, to
Geary
and
Shawnee
Counties west to east.
[2]
Oklahomans generally refer to the same geologic formation as the
Osage Hills
or "the Osage."
The Flint Hills Ecoregion is designated as a distinct region because it has the densest coverage of intact
tallgrass prairie
in North America. Due to its rocky soil, the early settlers were unable to plow the area, resulting in the prevalence of cattle ranches as opposed to the crop land more typical of the
Great Plains
. These ranches rely on annual
controlled burns
conducted by ranchers every spring to renew the prairie grasses for cattle to graze.
The
Flint Hills Discovery Center
, a science and history museum focusing on the Flint Hills, opened in
Manhattan, Kansas
, in April 2012.
Description
[
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]
Explorer
Zebulon Pike
first coined the name the Flint Hills in 1806 when he entered into his journal, "passed very ruff
flint
hills". The underlying bedrock of the hills is a flinty limestone. The largest town in the area is Manhattan, Kansas, and the hills can be accessed from the
Flint Hills Scenic Byway
, which passes through the region.
Geology
[
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]
The rocks exposed in the Flint Hills were laid down about 250 million years ago during the
Permian Period
. During this time, much of the
Midwest
, including Kansas and Oklahoma, was covered with shallow seas. As a result, much of the Flint Hills is composed of
limestone
and
shale
, with plentiful fossils of prehistoric sea creatures. The most notable
layer
of
chert
-bearing limestone is the Florence Limestone Member, which is approximately 45-foot thick (14 m). Numerous roadcuts of the Florence Member are prominent along
Interstate 70
in
Riley County, Kansas
. Unlike the Pennsylvanian limestones to the east, however, many of the limestones in the Flint Hills contain several bands of chert or flint. Because chert is much less soluble than the limestone surrounding it, the weathering of the limestone has left behind a
clay
soil with abundant chert gravel. Most of the hilltops in the region are capped with this chert gravel.
The highest point in the Flint Hills is
Butler County High Point
, with an elevation of 1680 ft (512 m).
[3]
Environment
[
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]
Due to shallow outcroppings of limestone and chert that lay just underneath the soil surface, corn and wheat farming were not practical over much of the area since plowing the land wasn't feasible. For this reason, cattle ranching became the main agricultural activity in the region.
Never having been ploughed over and sparsely developed, the Flint Hills represent the last expanse of intact tallgrass prairie in the nation.
[4]
They present the best opportunity for sustained preservation of this unique habitat that once covered the vast Great Plains. Most of the plains, such as the
Central tall grasslands
to the north, have better soil than the Flint Hills and a richer plant cover, but have almost entirely been converted to farmland.
[2]
Tallgrass prairie is renewed by fire and grazing, which also keeps back the growth of trees and shrubs. Prominent grass species are big bluestem
(
Andropogon gerardi
)
, switchgrass
(
Panicum virgatum
)
, and Indian grass
(
Sorghastrum nutans
)
. The expansion of shrubs and trees, referred to as
woody plant encroachment
, is a prominent regime shift and risk to the existing tallgrass prairie.
Animals native to the Flint Hills include the
American bison
, which once grazed the area by the millions and were almost entirely exterminated, but have now been reintroduced. The
elk
that once roamed the region are gone.
The
United States Environmental Protection Agency
and the
World Wildlife Fund
have designated the Flint Hills as an
ecoregion
, distinct from other grasslands of the
Great Plains
.
[5]
[6]
Four tallgrass prairie preserves are located in the Flint Hills. The largest of these, the
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve
, in the Osage Hills near
Pawhuska, Oklahoma
boasts a large population of bison and is an important refuge for other wildlife such as the
greater prairie chicken
(Tympanuchus cupido)
. The other preserves in Kansas, are the 17-square-mile (44 km
2
)
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
in northern
Chase County
near
Strong City
,
[7]
[8]
the Flint Hills Tallgrass Prairie Preserve east of
Cassoday
, "the Prairie Chicken Capital of the World",
[9]
and the
Konza Prairie
, which is managed as a tallgrass prairie biological research station by
Kansas State University
and is located near
Manhattan
.
In popular culture
[
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]
- William Least Heat-Moon
wrote a tribute to the Flint Hills and the Kansans who live there in his book
PrairyErth
.
- In mathematics, the Flint Hills series (which is named after the region) is an infinite series for which it is unknown whether or not the series converges. The convergence of the Flint Hills series is related to how irrational the number
π
is.
[10]
[11]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Flint Hills
- ^
a
b
Klinkenborg, Verlyn (April 2007).
"Splendor of the Grass: The Prairie's Grip is Unbroken in the Flint Hills of Kansas"
.
National Geographic
. Archived from
the original
on February 26, 2018
. Retrieved
March 27,
2007
.
- ^
"Flint Hills"
. Peakbagger.com. November 1, 2004
. Retrieved
July 24,
2014
.
- ^
Berger, Joel; Beckmann, Jon (February 19, 2020).
"Animals large and small once covered North America's prairies ? and in some places, they could again"
.
The Conversation
. Retrieved
December 16,
2020
.
- ^
"Ecoregion Maps and GIS Resources"
.
United States Environmental Protection Agency
. Retrieved
April 10,
2008
.
- ^
"Flint Hills tall grasslands"
.
Terrestrial Ecoregions
. World Wildlife Fund
. Retrieved
April 17,
2007
.
- ^
"Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve"
. U.S. National Park Service. July 7, 2014
. Retrieved
July 24,
2014
.
- ^
"Kansas Nature Conservation, Environment Issues"
. The Nature Conservancy. April 11, 2014. Archived from
the original
on May 1, 2010
. Retrieved
July 24,
2014
.
- ^
"Kansas Nature Conservation, Environment Issues | The Nature Conservancy"
. Nature.org. April 11, 2014. Archived from
the original
on February 9, 2009
. Retrieved
July 24,
2014
.
- ^
Mathematics StackExchange
Flint Hills series
- ^
"On convergence of the Flint Hills series" by Max A. Alekseyev
Alekseyev, Max A. (2011),
On convergence of the Flint Hills series
,
arXiv
:
1104.5100
External links
[
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]
- Maps
- Photos