Learning about Missouri Geology – February 2025

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The geology class/lecture I am taking at Missouri State University is providing good background in general geology…but I am most interested in the geology of Missouri…trying to be more aware of the geologic features around me.

My copy of Roadside Geology to Missouri has been a good reference. On the drive from Nixa to Branson, MO, my husband’s navigation system took a scenic route (to avoid a construction area); the two-lane road was predominately downhill and followed Woods Fork over to US 65.

The road cuts are spectacular along US 65 with one of the tallest marking the margin of the Springfield Plateau…and then the Salem Plateau as we continued south. There are layers of limestone, dolomite, and shale. There were frozen ‘waterfalls’ from some of the cuts. The day was sunny, so it was easy to get pictures of the cuts as we moved past.

We stopped at the Branson Scenic Overlook downstream from the dam that created Table Rock Lake. The overlook area was the first proposed location for Table Rock Dam. There were evidently too many cracks and faults in the rocks to build it at this location. The dam was built in the 1950s and spans the White River creating the deepest lake in Missouri.

The view for the overlook shows Branson and the lake in the distance but I was more interested in the river immediately below…the bare trees and remnants of snow…ripples in the cold water.

Our field trip to the prairies near Lockwood MO (from Springfield) took us from the Springfield Plateau to the Osage Plains. It was a very cloudy day, so I took few pictures - I did notice the flattening out as we drove around farmland with parcels being maintained as prairie. There were low rolling hills. There was a significant windfarm….indicating that the wind there is reliable enough to make it worthwhile.

The final geology adventure in February was the monthly Missouri Master Naturalist meeting. The topic for the month was Missouri Geology!

Previous Missouri Geology posts

Geology Course Experiences – February 2025

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I have completed 3 more chapters in my online course – reading the eTextbook, working through the study questions and taking the quizzes (all part of the online book). There was a short YouTube video. The professor sent an email about another video - Hidden Fury - the New Madrid Quake Zone – which was more  substantial (although not very polished); I wondered why she did not make it part of the online course as part of the section on earthquakes. So far, the online course content seems to be almost entirely the eTextbook – very little content/value added by the professor or the university. I will finish the course and get as much as I can from the online book that I can access until next summer but probably will not take another online course from this university.

The lab course is almost better than I expected. It started out in what seemed like the traditional entry level geology lab: trays of minerals and rocks; I took a few pictures. Diorite made of quartz, plagioclase, and hornblende.

Granite made quartz, feldspar, and plagioclase. 

But the next lab (volcanoes) involved use of VR headsets or scanning a QR code to look at something on our smartphone. The lab for the next week (volcanoes again) included some more video initiated by scanning a QR code followed by a simulation of a volcano emergency with role playing. It was interesting to have the Santorini earthquakes and associated response in the news at the same time we were doing the lab. Overall, the lab is exceeding my expectations; I appreciate that the faculty is incorporating new content and delivery mechanisms into the course.

I’ve met my daughter for lunch after two of the labs…before I head back home. I showed her the imprint of the shell in the limestone near the student union before the first one; the light was better for photography.

Learning about Missouri Geology – January 2025

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After the field trip to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum, I set a goal for myself to learn more about Missouri Geology in 2025…hopefully make field trips throughout the state. January was a month to do some research. I already had two books (Roadside Geology of Missouri by Charles G. Spencer and Geology of Missouri State Parks by Max W. Reams and Carol A. Reams) that I was reading – already referencing to plan the coming months.

I found that my local library had several other books. They were older and out of print. Two of them could only be used in the library. Sitting in a comfy chair in the library browsing them was an hour well spent. I took pictures of the cover/title page and some of the maps/pictures/tables – realizing that this was a better option than the copier machine.

Missouri Geology by A.G. Unklesbay and Jerry D. Vineyard

Springs of Missouri by Jerry D. Vineyard and Gerald L. Feder

The third book was available for checkout so it was actually read: Gargoyle Country – The Inspiring Geology of Springfield & Greene County by Jerry D. Vineyard.

I also discovered a great overall Geology resource – a National Park Service website! It’s not specific to Missouri though.

America’s Geologic Legacy

My husband and I signed up for two birding field trips this winter that are in very different areas of the state. They will both double as geology field trips! The first one is in a prairie area of Missouri and the second is far north in the state in an are that was glaciated in the last Ice Age. I’ll take my reference books and look at roadcuts along the way (since my husband will be driving)….and geologic features while we are out of the car.

Previous Missouri Geology posts

Joplin History and Mineral Museum

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My daughter and I picked a sunny day before Christmas for a ‘field trip’ to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum. It was the first of my planned geology field trips in the coming months; as soon as I realized that the Missouri Master Naturalist training did not include a geology segment, I started thinking about how I could educate myself and field trips are probably my favorite options.

Joplin has a lead-mining history so many of the minerals on display include galena (black cubes usually). There were big chunks of rock and crystals. The smaller items were in glass enclosed cases around the edge of the room…large pieces on stands in the center. The labeling was well-done with numbers by the specimen and then signage nearby with the information about the specimen.

On the landing of the stairs was a case of Missouri fossils and ancient Native American artifacts. I liked the poster of different types of arrowheads.

The history side of the museum included a cookie cutter museum. I was intrigued by a circular one from Mexico with multiple shapes inside….very little dough to roll out again. They used a set of state shaped cookie cutters as part of the transition to the Route 66 part of the museum.

There was a room with models of circuses and a Victorian doll house. The doll house has plastic over the open side…but it looked like the model dog had run around and knocked over things (the Christmas tree on its side…a book and lamp pushed off a table); I told the person at the desk and we both chuckled. The doll house has had the plastic barrier on it for a long time, but the house has been moved recently and the jostling might have been enough to knock over the items.

There was also a display of the very destructive 2011 tornado in Joplin which tried to show how destructive tornados can be. The twisted muffin tin was the first item that caught and held my attention. Not far away there was a tree that had been splintered. I read more about the event when I got home and discovered that the tornado’s upheaval of the soils along its route caused re-contamination from lead mining remnants in southern Joplin…so the natural disaster recovery had a linkage to the city’s lead mining history too.

Outside there was a bench painted with wildflowers and towers of Missouri rocks. There was a metal sculpture that was interesting too.

My daughter and I had a pleasant lunch at Los Primos Mexican Grill in Joplin….sharing guacamole at the beginning and flan at the end of the meal.

Our next stop was Grand Falls – not far off I-44 west of Joplin. The lower falls is Grand Falls Chert, at 20 to 30 foot think bed of pure chert in an area otherwise dominated by limestone. The chert is extremely resistant to erosion because it is made of silica. The falls is the state’s broadest continuous flowing waterfall.

On the way home toward Springfield, my daughter looked closely at the road cut at mile marker 27.0 as I drove by and saw that the Chesapeake Fault Zone displaces the beds by a few feet toward the western end of road cut on the north side of I-44.

Both the Grand Falls and Chesapeake Fault Zone geology minutes were prompted by a few paragraphs from Roadside Geology of Missouri by Charles G. Spencer.

Overall – a good first ‘geology’ field trip.