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82-518: Construction began in 1989, but work on the main tower did not begin until April 1990. The main tower is 370 feet (113 m) in height from the top of the tower to the riverbed. During the Great Flood of 1993 , construction continued despite record crests on the Mississippi below. The final cost of the bridge was $ 49 million, about 16 percent over budget. The Great River Bridge replaced

164-445: A broad denuded area as a piedmont deposit by the rivers which issued from the mountains. Since then, it has been more or less dissected by the erosion of valleys. The central section of the plains thus presents a marked contrast to the northern section. While the northern section owes its smoothness to the removal of local gravels and sands from a formerly uneven surface by the action of degrading rivers and their inflowing tributaries,

246-602: A broad stretch of country underlain by nearly horizontal strata extending westward from the 97th meridian west to the base of the Rocky Mountains , a distance of 300 to 500 mi (480 to 800 km). It extends northward from the Mexican boundary far into Canada. Although the altitude of the plains increases gradually from 600 ft (180 m) or 1,200 ft (370 m) on the east to 4,000–5,000 ft (1,200–1,500 m) or 6,000 ft (1,800 m) near

328-603: A gradual transition, this rainfall line may be taken to divide the drier plains from the moister prairies. However, in Canada the eastern boundary of the plains is well defined by the presence of the Canadian Shield to the northeast. The plains (within the United States) may be described in northern, intermediate, central and southern sections, in relation to certain peculiar features. In Canada, no such division

410-720: A peak flow rate of 1,080,000 ft /s (30,600 m /s). At this rate, a bowl the size of Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis would be filled to the brim in 70 seconds. Some locations on the Mississippi River flooded for almost 200 days, while various regions by the Missouri neared 100 days of flooding. On the Mississippi, Grafton, Illinois , recorded flooding for 195 days; Clarksville, Missouri , for 187 days; Winfield, Missouri , for 183 days; Hannibal, Missouri , for 174 days; and Quincy, Illinois , for 152 days. The Missouri River

492-575: A state of disaster for Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri and asked Congress to approve 2.5 billion dollars in Federal disaster relief. During this time the Army National Guard and American Red Cross set up water stations, and the local Anheuser-Busch distributor contributed water in white six-packs with their logo on it. Once running water was restored, there was enough pressure for people to bathe and flush toilets, but

574-763: A three-hour period. From May through July, Sioux Falls, South Dakota received 22.55 inches (573 mm) of rain, the wettest three-month period in its history. As noted above, rains in South Dakota contributed to flooding downstream. In June, flooding occurred along the Black River in Wisconsin , with flooding also starting to occur along the Mississippi , Missouri , and Kansas rivers . Starting as early as June 7, reports of levees being overtopped and levee breaks became common. These breaches acted to delay

656-594: A west-northwest direction in what is now Oklahoma and Texas which is now known as the De Soto Trail. The Spanish thought that the Great Plains were the location of the mythological Quivira and Cíbola , a place said to be rich in gold. People in the southwest began to acquire horses in the 16th century by trading or stealing them from Spanish colonists in New Mexico. As horse culture moved northward,

738-404: Is about 500 mi (800 km) east to west and 2,000 mi (3,200 km) north to south. Much of the region was home to American bison herds until they were hunted to near extinction during the mid/late-19th century. It has an area of approximately 500,000 sq mi (1,300,000 km ). Current thinking regarding the geographic boundaries of the Great Plains is shown by this map at

820-529: Is among the most costly and devastating to ever occur in the United States, with 50 dead and US$ 12–16   billion in damages (equivalent to $ 23–30   billion in 2023). The hydrographic basin affected an area approximately totaling 320,000 square miles (830,000 km ), of about 745 miles (1,199 km) in length and about 435 miles (700 km) in width. Within this zone, the flooded area totaled around 30,000 square miles (78,000 km ) and

902-526: Is extraordinarily smooth. It is very dry, except for occasional shallow and temporary water sheets after rains. Llano is separated from the plains on the north by the mature consequent valley of the Canadian River , and from the mountains on the west by the broad and probably mature valley of the Pecos River . On the east, it is strongly undercut by the retrogressive erosion of the headwaters of

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984-506: Is peculiarly elaborate. Known as the Badlands , it is a minutely dissected form with a relief of a few hundred feet. This is due to several causes: The central section of the Great Plains, between latitudes 42° and 36° , occupying eastern Colorado and western Kansas , is mostly a dissected fluviatile plain. That is, this section was once smoothly covered with a gently sloping plain of gravel and sand that had been spread far forward on

1066-455: Is used: the climatic and vegetation regions are more impactful on human settlement than mere topography, and therefore the region is split into (from north to south), the taiga plains, boreal plains , aspen parkland , and prairie ecoregion regions. The northern section of the Great Plains, north of latitude 44° , includes eastern Montana , eastern Wyoming , most of North Dakota and South Dakota , southwestern Minnesota and portions of

1148-563: The American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americus), Salt Creek Tiger Beetle (Cinidela nevadica lincolniana), Great Plains Giant Tiger Beetle (Amblycheila chylindriformis), Microstylum morosum , Bean leaf beetle (Cerotoma trifurcata), Great Plains Camel Cricket (Daihinia brevipes), and the Great plains spittlebug (Lepyronia gibbosa). Some species in the Great plains have gone extinct in

1230-593: The Arikara , Mandan , Pawnee , and Wichita . Wars with the Ojibwe and Cree peoples pushed the Lakota (Teton Sioux) west onto the Great Plains in the mid- to late-17th century. The Shoshone originated in the western Great Basin and spread north and east into present-day Idaho and Wyoming. By 1500, some Eastern Shoshone had crossed the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains. After 1750, warfare and pressure from

1312-825: The Department of the Interior . In contrast, U.S. Forest Service , an agency of the U. S. Department of Agriculture , administers the National Forests and National Grasslands, under a multiple-use concept. By law, the U.S. Forest Service must consider all resources, with no single resource emphasized to the detriment of others, including water, soil, grazing, timber harvesting, and minerals (mining and drilling), as well as recreation and conservation of fish and wildlife. Each individual state also administers state lands, typically smaller areas, for various purposes including conservation and recreation. Grasslands are among

1394-968: The Great Plains toad ( Anaxyrus cognatus ), plains leopard frog ( Lithobates blairi ), and plains spadefoot toad ( Spea bombifrons ). Some species predominately associated with various river basins in the Great Plains include sturgeon chub ( Macrhybopsis gelida ), peppered chub ( Macrhybopsis tetranema ), prairie chub ( Macrhybopsis australis ), western silvery minnow ( Hybognathus argyritis ), plains minnow ( Hybognathus placitus ), smalleye shiner ( Notropis buccula ), Arkansas River shiner ( Notropis girardi ), Red River shiner ( Notropis bairdi ), Topeka shiner ( Notropis topeka ), plains topminnow ( Fundulus sciadicus ), plains killifish ( Fundulus zebrinus ), Red River pupfish ( Cyprinodon rubrofluviatilis ), and Arkansas darter ( Etheostoma cragini ). The great plains also has many invertebrate species living here both alive and extinct such as

1476-657: The Plains Indians or the Plains states . In Canada the term is rarely used; Natural Resources Canada , the government department responsible for official mapping, treats the Interior Plains as one unit consisting of several related plateaus and plains. There is no region referred to as the "Great Plains" in the Atlas of Canada . In terms of human geography, the term prairie is more commonly used in Canada, and

1558-496: The 1973 Mississippi and the 1951 Missouri River floods. Civil Air Patrol crews from 21 states served more than 5,000 meals to flood victims and volunteers, and their pilots logged more than 1,500 hours in the air inspecting utility lines and pipelines. Over 1,000 flood warnings and statements, five times the normal, were issued to notify the public and need-to-know officials of river levels. In such places as St. Louis, river levels were nearly 20 feet (6.1 m) above flood stage,

1640-556: The Blackfoot, Crow, Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho pushed Eastern Shoshone south and westward. Some of them moved as far south as Texas, emerging as the Comanche by 1700. The first known contact between Europeans and Indians in the Great Plains occurred in what is now Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska from 1540 to 1542 with the arrival of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado , a Spanish conquistador. In that same period, Hernando de Soto crossed

1722-503: The Canadian provinces including southeastern Alberta , southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba . The strata here are Cretaceous or early Tertiary , lying nearly horizontal. The surface is shown to be a plain of degradation by a gradual ascent here and there to the crest of a ragged escarpment, the escarpment-remnant of a resistant stratum. There are also the occasional lava -capped mesas and dike formed ridges, surmounting

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1804-462: The Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln . This definition, however, is primarily ecological, not physiographic. The Boreal Plains of Western Canada are physiographically the same, but differentiated by their tundra and forest (rather than grassland) appearance. The term "Great Plains", for the region west of about the 96th meridian west and east of the Rocky Mountains ,

1886-557: The Comanche were among the first to commit to a fully mounted nomadic lifestyle. This occurred by the 1730s, when they had acquired enough horses to put all their people on horseback. The real beginning of the horse culture of the plains began with the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 in New Mexico and the capture of thousands of horses and other livestock. In 1683 a Spanish expedition into Texas found horses among Native people. In 1690,

1968-551: The Great Plains and into the valleys and lower elevations of the eastern Rocky Mountains and portions of the American southwest . Other snakes include the plains hog-nosed snake ( Heterodon nasicus ), western milksnake ( Lampropeltis gentilis ), great plains ratsnake ( Pantherophis emoryi ), bullsnake ( Pituophis catenifer sayi ), plains black-headed snake ( Tantilla nigriceps ), plains gartersnake ( Thamnophis radix ), and lined snake ( Tropidoclonion lineatum ). Reptile diversity increases significantly in southern regions of

2050-629: The Great Plains and that included trade networks west to the Rocky Mountains. Mississippians settled the Great Plains at sites now in Oklahoma and South Dakota . Siouan language speakers may have originated in the lower Mississippi River region. They were agriculturalists and may have been part of the Mound Builder civilization during the 9th–12th centuries. Pressure from other Indian tribes, themselves driven west and south by

2132-588: The Great Plains include National Parks and National Monuments, administers by the National Park Service with the responsibility of preserving ecological and historical places and making them available to the public. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service manages the National Wildlife Refuges, with the primary responsibility of conserving and protecting fish, wildlife, plants, and habitat in the public trust. Both are agencies of

2214-476: The Great Plains include the swift fox ( Vulpes velox ) and the endangered black-footed ferret ( Mustela nigripes ). The lesser prairie chicken ( Tympanuchus pallidicinctus ) is endemic to the Great Plains and the distribution of the greater prairie chicken ( Tympanuchus cupido ) predominantly occurs in the region, although the latter historically ranged further eastward. The Harris's sparrow ( Zonotrichia querula ) spends winter months in southern areas of

2296-512: The Great Plains is the most tornado active area in the world and is sometimes referred to as Tornado Alley . The Great Plains are part of the floristic North American Prairies province , which extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians . Although the American bison ( Bison bison ) historically ranged throughout much of North America (from New York to Oregon and Canada to northern Mexico), they are strongly associated with

2378-510: The Great Plains or alternatively the western portion of the Great Plains. The Great Plains lie across both the Central United States and Western Canada , encompassing: The term "Great Plains" is used in the United States to describe a sub-section of the even more vast Interior Plains physiographic division, which covers much of the interior of North America. It also has currency as a region of human geography , referring to

2460-751: The Great Plains where they once roamed in immense herds. Pronghorn ( Antilocapra americana ) range into western areas of the region. The black-tailed prairie dog ( Cynomys ludovicianus ) is another iconic species among several rodents that are linked to the region including the thirteen-lined ground squirrel ( Ictidomys tridecemlineatus ), spotted ground squirrel ( Xerospermophilus spilosoma ), Franklin's ground squirrel ( Poliocitellus franklinii ), plains pocket gopher ( Geomys bursarius ), hispid pocket mouse ( Chaetodipus hispidus ), olive-backed pocket mouse ( Perognathus fasciatus ), plains pocket mouse ( Perognathus flavescens ), and plains harvest mouse ( Reithrodontomys montanus ), Two carnivores associated with

2542-488: The Great Plains. The ornate box turtle ( Terrapene ornata ) and great plains skink ( Plestiodon obsoletus ) occur in southern areas. Although few salamanders are strongly associated with region, the western tiger salamander ( Ambystoma mavortium ) ranges through much of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, as does the Rocky Mountain toad ( Anaxyrus w. woodhousi ). Other anurans related to region include

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2624-503: The High Plains) is periodically subjected to extended periods of drought ; high winds in the region may then generate devastating dust storms . The eastern Great Plains near the eastern boundary falls in the humid subtropical climate zone in the southern areas, and the northern and central areas fall in the humid continental climate . Many thunderstorms occur in the plains in the spring through summer. The southeastern portion of

2706-679: The Iowa on ramp and runs the first mile in Iowa including running up Snake Alley. It then runs across the bridge through Illinois on U.S. Route 34 and finishes on Front St. in front of the Port of Burlington. Great Flood of 1993 The Great Flood of 1993 (or Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 ) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States , along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993. The flood

2788-474: The MacArthur Bridge, an aging two-lane, cantilevered , steel toll bridge built in 1917. At the time, the bridge was in desperate need of repair, or replacement, as it swayed ominously when two semis crossed the bridge at the same time on the two lanes of traffic. After the bridge was dismantled, the engineers discovered that the supports weren't sunk into the bedrock far enough, causing undermining of

2870-411: The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, causing river gauges to malfunction along the way. The record crests met within days of each other at their confluence near St. Louis. Navigation on the Mississippi and Missouri River was closed in early July, resulting in a loss of $ 2 million (1993) per day in commerce. Mississippi River levels stabilized for a few days at April 1973 record stages. When the crest from

2952-747: The Missouri River arrived, levels rose again. The Mississippi River broke through levees, drove people and their possessions to higher ground, and caused havoc through the floodplains. The crests, now combined as one, moved downstream through St. Louis on the way to the Upper Mississippi's confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois . Only minor flooding occurred below Cairo due to the Lower Mississippi's larger channel below that point, as well as drought conditions in

3034-464: The Missouri River. For example, here is a comparison of flood data at – and associated impacts on – Kansas City for three big floods since the early 19th century. [REDACTED] Media related to Great Flood of 1993 at Wikimedia Commons Great Plains The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flatland in North America . The region is located just to

3116-431: The Missouri River. Navigation on the Mississippi and Missouri River had been closed since early July, resulting in a loss of $ 2 million (1993) per day in commerce. James Scott , a 23-year-old Illinois man, was convicted in 1994 for "intentionally causing a catastrophe" and sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in causing some of the flooding across the river from Quincy, Illinois . In an attempt to strand his wife on

3198-650: The Red, Brazos, and Colorado rivers of Texas and presents a ragged escarpment approximately 500 to 800 ft (150 to 240 m) high, overlooking the central denuded area of that state. There, between the Brazos and Colorado rivers, occurs a series of isolated outliers capped by limestone that underlies both the Llano Uplift on the west and the Grand Prairies escarpment on the east. The southern and narrow part of

3280-628: The Upper Midwest with voluminous rainfall. Portions of east-central Iowa received as much as 48 inches (120 cm) of rain between April 1 and August 31, 1993, and many areas across the central-northern plains had precipitation 400–750% above normal. In the St. Louis National Weather Service (NWS) forecast area encompassing eastern Missouri and southwest Illinois , 36 forecast points rose above flood stage , and 20 river-stage records were broken. The 1993 flood broke record river levels set during

3362-716: The area of the ancient Great Plains for thousands to millions of years. The vast majority of these animals became extinct in North America at the end of the Pleistocene (around 13,000 years ago). A number of significant fossil sites are located in the Great Plains including Agate Fossil Beds National Monument ( Nebraska ), Ashfall Fossil Beds ( Nebraska ), Clayton Lake State Park ( New Mexico ), Dinosaur Valley State Park ( Texas ), Hudson-Meng Bison Kill (Nebraska), Makoshika State Park (Montana), and The Mammoth Site ( South Dakota ). Public and protected lands in

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3444-471: The central section, it is for the most part a dissected fluviatile plain. However, the lower lands which surround it on all sides place it in such strong relief that it stands up as a table-land, known from the time of Mexican occupation as the Llano Estacado . It measures roughly 150 mi (240 km) east-west and 400 mi (640 km) north-south. It is of very irregular outline, narrowing to

3526-649: The east of the Rocky Mountains , much of it covered in prairie , steppe , and grassland . They are the western part of the Interior Plains , which include the mixed grass prairie , the tallgrass prairie between the Great Lakes and Appalachian Plateau , and the Taiga Plains and Boreal Plains ecozones in Northern Canada . "Great Plains", or Western Plains , is also the ecoregion of

3608-553: The eastern U.S. If the Ohio River watershed had not been in drought while the Missouri and Upper Mississippi were in flood, the 1993 flood might have rivaled the 1927 flood in overall damage on the Lower Mississippi, beyond Cairo. On August 1, levee breaks near Columbia, Illinois , flooded 47,000 acres (190 km ) of land, inundating the Illinois towns of Valmeyer and Fults . The released water continued to flow parallel to

3690-531: The encroachment of European settlers as well as economic incentives such as the fur trade, alongside the arrival of the horse and firearms from Europe pushed multiple tribes onto the Great Plains. Among those to have lived on the Great Plains were the Blackfoot , Crow , Sioux , Cheyenne , Arapaho , Comanche , and others. Eastern portions of the Great Plains were inhabited by tribes who lived at Etzanoa and in semi-permanent villages of earth lodges, such as

3772-638: The eruption were responsible for the Great Flood of 1993 in the Midwestern United States . Above-normal rainfall and below-normal temperatures beginning in the summer of 1992 resulted in above-normal soil moisture and reservoir levels in the Missouri and Upper Mississippi River basins. This weather pattern persisted throughout the following autumn. During the winter of 1992–93, the region experienced heavy snowfall. These conditions were followed by persistent spring weather patterns that produced storms over

3854-470: The flood crests, temporarily storing excess water in the adjacent lowlands, but the rain kept falling. In the beginning of June, the Missouri and Mississippi rivers dropped below flood stage and were receding. During the second week of June, river levels rose to near flood stage before yet again beginning their slow recession. By the end of June, the Mississippi River was four feet (1.2 m) below flood stage at St. Louis , while many other river locations in

3936-433: The general level by 500 ft (150 m) or more and manifestly demonstrating the widespread erosion of the surrounding plains. All these reliefs are more plentiful towards the mountains in central Montana. The peneplain is no longer in the cycle of erosion that witnessed its production. It appears to have suffered a regional uplift or increase in elevation, for the upper Missouri River and its branches no longer flow on

4018-760: The great plains like the Rocky Mountain Locust (Melanoplus spretus). During the Cretaceous Period (145–66 million years ago), the Great Plains were covered by a shallow inland sea called the Western Interior Seaway . However, during the Late Cretaceous to the Paleocene (65–55 million years ago), the seaway had begun to recede, leaving behind thick marine deposits and a relatively flat terrain which

4100-471: The highest ever recorded there in 228 years. The 52-foot (16 m)-high St. Louis Floodwall, built to handle the volume of the 1844 flood, was able to keep the 1993 flood out with just over two feet (0.61 m) to spare. This floodwall was built in the 1960s, to great controversy, out of interlocking prefabricated concrete blocks. Emergency officials estimated that nearly all of the 700 privately built agricultural levees were overtopped or destroyed along

4182-501: The largest group. They rise like a large island from the sea, occupying an oval area of about 100 mi (160 km) north-south by 50 mi (80 km) east-west. At Black Elk Peak , they reach an altitude of 7,216 ft (2,199 m) and have an effective relief over the plains of 2,000 or 3,000 ft (610 or 910 m) This mountain mass is of flat-arched, dome-like structure, now well dissected by radiating consequent streams. The weaker uppermost strata have been eroded down to

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4264-468: The least protected biomes. Humans have converted much of the prairies for agricultural purposes or to create pastures. Several of the protected lands in the region are centered around aberrant and uncharacteristic features of the region, such as mountains, outcrops, and canyons (e.g. Devil's Tower National Monument , Wind Cave National Park , Scotts Bluff National Monument ), and as splendid and worthy as they are, they are not primarily focused on conserving

4346-426: The level of the plains where their upturned edges are evenly truncated. The next following harder strata have been sufficiently eroded to disclose the core of underlying igneous and metamorphic crystalline rocks in about half of the domed area. In the intermediate section of the plains, between latitudes 44° and 42° , including southern South Dakota and northern Nebraska , the erosion of certain large districts

4428-484: The line that divides the Great Plains into an area that receives 20 in (510 mm) or more of rainfall per year and an area that receives less than 20 in (510 mm). In this context, the High Plains, as well as Southern Alberta , south-western Saskatchewan and Eastern Montana are mainly semi arid steppe land and are generally characterised by rangeland or marginal farmland . The region (especially

4510-475: The month averaged from one inch (25 mm) above normal at St. Louis and Springfield, to between six and seven inches (150 and 180 mm) above normal at Columbia and Kansas City, Missouri. In Iowa, the flood waters brought mass destruction. On July 9, four buildings on Iowa State University 's campus flooded; resulting in over 1.4 million dollars in estimated damages and six weeks of construction to reopen. The college's indoor sports arena, Hilton Coliseum ,

4592-760: The more common "prairie". The Great Plains are the westernmost portion of the vast North American Interior Plains , which extend east to the Appalachian Plateau . The United States Geological Survey divides the Great Plains in the United States into ten physiographic subdivisions: Further to this can be added Canadian physiographic sub-regions such as the Alberta Plain, Cypress Hills , Manitoba Escarpment (eastward), Manitoba Plain, Missouri Coteau (shared), Rocky Mountain Foothills (eastward), and Saskatchewan Plain. The Great Plains consist of

4674-442: The mountains, the local relief is generally small. The semi-arid climate excludes tree growth and opens far-reaching views. The plains are by no means a simple unit. They are of diverse structure and of various stages of erosional development. They are occasionally interrupted by buttes and escarpments . They are frequently broken by valleys. Yet on the whole, a broadly extended surface of moderate relief so often prevails that

4756-436: The name, Great Plains, for the region as a whole is well-deserved. The western boundary of the plains is usually well-defined by the abrupt ascent of the mountains. The eastern boundary of the plains (in the United States) is more climatic than topographic . The line of 20 in (510 mm) of annual rainfall trends a little east of northward near the 97th meridian. If a boundary must be drawn where nature presents only

4838-615: The other side of the river so he could continue partying, Scott allegedly removed several sandbags from a levee holding back the water. The breach flooded 14,000 acres (57 km ) of farmland, destroyed buildings, and closed a bridge. His conviction was overturned in 1997, but reinstated in 1998. He maintains his innocence behind bars. The Redwood River in Minnesota began experiencing severe flooding in May. On May 22, Sioux Falls, South Dakota , received 7.5 inches (190 mm) of rain in

4920-479: The piers. The new bridge is five lanes wide (two westbound, three eastbound), with piers sunk over 90 feet into bedrock, and provides a safer crossing across the Mississippi River than the old bridge. In the early morning of May 1, 2008, five barges broke loose of their moorings, with two of those striking the easternmost pylon of the bridge on the Henderson County, Illinois side of the river. The bridge

5002-434: The plains and prairies. United States: Canada: the Great Plains biome is found to be at the brink of collapse due to woody plant encroachment , with 62% of Northern American grassland lost to date. The first Peoples ( Paleo-Indians ) arrived on the Great Plains thousands of years ago. The introduction of corn around 800 CE allowed the development of the mound-building Mississippian culture along rivers that crossed

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5084-909: The region is known as the Canadian Prairies , prairie provinces or simply "the prairies". The North American Environmental Atlas , produced by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation , a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) agency composed of the geographical agencies of the Mexican, American, and Canadian governments, uses the "Great Plains" as an ecoregion synonymous with predominant prairies and grasslands rather than as physiographic region defined by topography. The Great Plains ecoregion includes five sub-regions: Temperate Prairies, West-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, South-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, Texas Louisiana Coastal Plains, and Tamaulipas-Texas Semi-Arid Plain, which overlap or expand upon other Great Plains designations. The region

5166-595: The region were near flood stage. Precipitation for the month averaged from one inch (25 mm) above normal in Kansas City , to nearly four inches (100 mm) above normal in Springfield, Missouri . July brought more heavy rain to the Missouri and upper Mississippi River basins in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Illinois, and Minnesota. Rainfall amounts of 5 to 7 inches (130 to 180 millimetres) in 24 hours were common. Precipitation for

5248-647: The region. Other species migrate from the south in the spring and spend their breeding season on the plains, including the white-faced ibis ( Plegadis chihi ), mountain plover ( Charadrius montanus ), marbled godwit ( Limosa fedoa ), Sprague's pipit ( Anthus spragueii ), Cassin's sparrow ( Peucaea cassinii ), Baird's sparrow ( Centronyx bairdii ), lark bunting ( Calamospiza melanocorys ), chestnut-collared longspur ( Calcarius ornatus ), thick-billed longspur or McCown's longspur ( Rhynchophanes mccownii ), and dickcissel ( Spiza americana ). The prairie rattlesnake ( Crotalus viridis ) ranges throughout much of

5330-474: The river from a better graded preglacial valley by the Pleistocene ice sheet . Here, the ice sheet overspread the plains from the moderately elevated Canadian highlands far on the north-east, instead of from the much higher mountains nearby on the west. The present altitude of the plains near the mountain base is 4,000 ft (1,200 m). The northern plains are interrupted by several small mountain areas. The Black Hills, chiefly in western South Dakota, are

5412-495: The river, approaching the levees protecting historic Prairie du Rocher and Fort de Chartres . On August 3, officials decided to break through the stronger Mississippi River levee to allow the water back into the river. The plan worked and the historic areas were saved, although some residential areas were flooded in counties above Prairie du Rocher. The Mississippi River at St. Louis crested at 49.6 feet (15.1 m) on August 1, nearly 20 feet (6.1 m) above flood stage. It had

5494-408: The same locations. Soils across much of the affected area were saturated by June 1, with additional rainfall all running off into streams and rivers, instead of soaking into the ground. These wet-weather conditions contrasted sharply with the droughts and heat waves experienced in the southeastern United States. Storms, persistent and repetitive in nature during the late spring and summer, crowded

5576-565: The seaway had once occupied. During the Cenozoic era , specifically about 25 million years ago during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, the continental climate became favorable to the evolution of grasslands. Existing forest biomes declined and grasslands became much more widespread. The grasslands provided a new niche for mammals, including many ungulates and glires , that switched from browsing diets to grazing diets. Traditionally,

5658-405: The south. Its altitude is 5,500 ft (1,700 m) at the highest western point, nearest the mountains whence its gravels were supplied. From there, it slopes southeastward at a decreasing rate, first about 12 ft (3.7 m), then about 7 ft/mi (1.3 m/km), to its eastern and southern borders, where it is 2,000 ft (610 m) in altitude. Like the High Plains farther north, it

5740-459: The southern section owes its smoothness to the deposition of imported gravels and sands upon a previously uneven surface by the action of aggrading rivers and their outgoing distributaries. The two sections are also alike in that residual eminences still here and there surmount the peneplain of the northern section, while the fluviatile plain of the central section completely buried the pre-existent relief. An exception to this statement must be made for

5822-416: The southwest, close to the mountains in southern Colorado, where some lava-capped mesas ( Mesa de Maya , Raton Mesa ) stand several thousand feet above the general plain level, and thus testify to the widespread erosion of this region before it was aggraded. The southern section of the Great Plains, between latitudes 35.5° and 25.5°, lies in western Texas , eastern New Mexico , and western Oklahoma . Like

5904-588: The spread of grasslands and the development of grazers have been strongly linked. However, an examination of mammalian teeth suggests that it is the open, gritty habitat and not the grass itself which is linked to diet changes in mammals, giving rise to the " grit, not grass " hypothesis. Paleontological finds in the area have yielded bones of mammoths , saber-toothed cats and other ancient animals, as well as dozens of other megafauna (large animals over 100 lb [45 kg]) – such as giant sloths , horses , mastodons , and American lion – that dominated

5986-602: The subdued forms of the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma , the westernmost member of the Ouachita system. The term "Western Plains" is used to describe the ecoregion of the Great Plains, or alternatively the western portion of the Great Plains. In general, the Great Plains have a wide range of weather, with very cold and harsh winters and very hot and humid summers. Wind speeds are often very high, especially in winter. The 100th meridian roughly corresponds with

6068-408: The surface of the plain, but in well graded, maturely opened valleys, several hundred feet below the general level. A significant exception to the rule of mature valleys occurs, however, in the case of the Missouri, the largest river, which is broken by several falls on hard sandstones about 50 mi (80 km) east of the mountains. This peculiar feature is explained as the result of displacement of

6150-590: The table-land, called the Edwards Plateau , is more dissected than the rest, and falls off to the south in a frayed-out fault scarp. This scarp overlooks the coastal plain of the Rio Grande embayment . The central denuded area, east of the Llano, resembles the east-central section of the plains in exposing older rocks. Between these two similar areas, in the space limited by the Canadian and Red Rivers, rise

6232-547: The water was not certified potable until July 29. The final usage restrictions were lifted in August. Major sandbagging activities took place along the higher Missouri River, the River des Peres in St. Louis, the Mississippi River south of St. Louis, and on many other tributaries across Missouri and Illinois. Some of these efforts were successful, while others were not. The copious rain during July sent record-setting crests down

6314-498: The whole towns of Valmeyer, Illinois , and Rhineland, Missouri , were relocated to higher ground. Reports in 1994 set the deaths due to the flood at 38, though this had been revised to 50 deaths by 1996. The fiscal cost is estimated at $ 12–16 billion (equivalent to $ 23–30   billion in 2023). Even after the water was gone, large amounts of sand still covered the farmlands and homes. Over time, channeling and levee construction have altered how floods affect various areas along

6396-505: Was above flood stage for 62 days in Jefferson City, Missouri , 77 days at Hermann, Missouri , and for 94 days at St. Charles in the St. Louis metropolitan area. On October 7, 103 days after the flooding began, the Mississippi River at St. Louis finally dropped below flood stage. Approximately 100,000 homes were destroyed as a result of the flooding, 15,000,000 acres (23,000 sq mi; 61,000 km ) of farmland inundated, and

6478-634: Was closed while it could be inspected by the Iowa Department of Transportation for damage and repairs. A third barge continued downstream, striking the BNSF Railroad owned Burlington Rail Bridge . The highway bridge was reopened the following day. On June 17, 2008, the bridge was closed due to flooding. Every year on the second Saturday of May the Great River Bridge Race is run. The 6-mile (9.7 km) race starts at

6560-580: Was flooded with as much as fourteen feet of water. From July 11 until July 22, the Des Moines Water Works was flooded by the Raccoon River . This resulted in the plant being powered down, unable to provide running water for that period. On July 13, electricity returned to more than 35,000 residents. That same day President Bill Clinton toured Iowa's capitol and neighboring cities alongside Governor Terry Branstad . He later declared

6642-577: Was not generally used before the early 20th century. Nevin Fenneman's 1916 study Physiographic Subdivision of the United States brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. Before that the region was almost invariably called the High Plains, in contrast to the lower Prairie Plains of the Midwestern states . Today the term " High Plains " is used for a subregion of the Great Plains. The term still remains little-used in Canada compared to

6724-569: Was the worst such U.S. disaster since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 , as measured by duration, area inundated, persons displaced, crop and property damage, and number of record river levels. In some categories, the 1993 flood even surpassed the 1927 flood, at the time the largest flood ever recorded on the Mississippi River. A volcanic winter is thought to have started with the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo . It has been suggested that excess cloud condensation nuclei from

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