Missouri is the southernmost state lying mostly in the Central Lowlands. The Mississippi River forms Missouri’s eastern boundary, separating it primarily from Illinois, with Kentucky and Tennessee touching the southeast corner. Iowa borders Missouri on the north, Arkansas on the south.
On the west, Missouri is bordered by Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The Missouri River forms part of this border before turning and flowing east across Missouri into the Mississippi River.
During the early Pleistocene Epoch, or Ice Age, glaciers covered northern Missouri as far south as what is now the valley of the Missouri River twice. The force of rushing glacial meltwater probably carved the original valley for the Missouri River.
Northern Missouri is a land of rolling hills and fertile soils that supported the grassy prairies that recently covered most of Missouri north of the Missouri River, as well as a triangular region south and west of the center of the state. Today, this region, called the dissected plains, has mostly been converted to farmland.
Southwest Missouri is home to the Springfield Plateau. Farther north is the Osage Plains, rolling plains with broad, shallow valleys.
Missouri’s northern prairies—the dissected plains—halt at at a line of rough hills that runs from about St. Louis southwest across the state. South of these hills, sharp ridges and deep valleys mark the edge of the Ozark Mountains, which have been worn down into forested hills. The Missouri Ozarks harbor numerous caves and sinkholes and more than 10,000 springs, some among the world’s largest. Underground streams have carved more than 1,450 caves.
The St. Francois Mountains rise in southeastern Missouri. These include both Missouri’s highest point (1,772-foot Taum Sauk Mountain) and some of the oldest rocks in the Midwest, dating back 1.5 billion years.
Flat bottomlands occur along the Mississippi, Missouri, and some smaller rivers. Missouri’s biggest flatland—and the lowest part of the state—is an area called the “boot heel” near the southeast corner of Missouri. This region of broad, flat river plains is part of the Gulf Coastal Plain, which stretches south to the Gulf of Mexico. Originally swampy, settlers drained the land, converting it into fertile farmland.
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