The
Coteau des Prairies is a
plateauIn geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain...
approximately 200 miles in length and 100 miles in width (320 by 160 km), rising from the
prairiePrairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
flatlands in eastern
South DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. South Dakota was carved out of the southern half of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889...
, southwestern
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
, and Northwestern
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The southeast portion of the Coteau comprises one of the distinct regions of Minnesota, known as
Buffalo RidgeBuffalo Ridge is a large expanse of rolling hills in the southeastern part of the larger Coteau des Prairies, and is the second-highest point in Minnesota. It stands 1,995 feet above sea level. Buffalo Ridge is sixty miles long and part of Lincoln County in the southwest corner of Minnesota...
.
The
flatironFlatiron or flat iron can mean several things:*An old term for a clothes iron , now largely out of date*Another name for a hair iron, a tool used to straighten hair*A wedge-shaped building:...
-shaped plateau was named by early French explorers from
New FranceNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Britain in 1763...
(
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
),
Coteau meaning "slope" in
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
.
The plateau is composed of thick
glacialA glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years...
deposits, the remnants of many repeated glaciations, reaching a composite thickness of approximately 900 feet (275 m).
The
Coteau des Prairies is a
plateauIn geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain...
approximately 200 miles in length and 100 miles in width (320 by 160 km), rising from the
prairiePrairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
flatlands in eastern
South DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. South Dakota was carved out of the southern half of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889...
, southwestern
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
, and Northwestern
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The southeast portion of the Coteau comprises one of the distinct regions of Minnesota, known as
Buffalo RidgeBuffalo Ridge is a large expanse of rolling hills in the southeastern part of the larger Coteau des Prairies, and is the second-highest point in Minnesota. It stands 1,995 feet above sea level. Buffalo Ridge is sixty miles long and part of Lincoln County in the southwest corner of Minnesota...
.
The
flatironFlatiron or flat iron can mean several things:*An old term for a clothes iron , now largely out of date*Another name for a hair iron, a tool used to straighten hair*A wedge-shaped building:...
-shaped plateau was named by early French explorers from
New FranceNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Britain in 1763...
(
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
),
Coteau meaning "slope" in
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
.
The plateau is composed of thick
glacialA glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years...
deposits, the remnants of many repeated glaciations, reaching a composite thickness of approximately 900 feet (275 m). They are underlain by a small ridge of resistant
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
shaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable...
. During the last (
PleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2.588 million to 12 000 years BP covering the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
)
Ice AgeThe general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual...
, two lobes of the glacier appear to have parted around the pre-existing plateau and further deepened the lowlands flanking the plateau.
The plateau has numerous small glacial lakes and is drained by the
Big Sioux RiverThe Big Sioux River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 295 mi long, in eastern South Dakota and northwestern Iowa in the United States...
in South Dakota and the
Cottonwood RiverThe Cottonwood River is a tributary of the Minnesota River, 152 miles long, in southwestern Minnesota in the United States. Via the Minnesota River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of in an agricultural region...
in Minnesota.
PipestoneCatlinite is a type of argillite , usually brownish-red in color, which occurs in a matrix of Sioux quartzite. Because it is fine-grained and easily-worked, it is prized by Native Americans for use in making sacred pipes such as calumets and chanunpas...
deposits on the plateau have been quarried for hundreds of years by
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
, who use the prized, brownish-red mineral to make their sacred
peace pipeA Calumet is a ceremonial smoking pipe used by some Native American Nations. Traditionally it has been smoked to seal a covenant or treaty, or to offer prayers in a religious ceremony....
s. The quarries are located at
Pipestone National MonumentPipestone National Monument is located in southwestern Minnesota, just north of the city of Pipestone, Minnesota. It is located along the highways of U.S. Route 75, Minnesota State Highway 23 and Minnesota State Highway 30....
in the southwest corner of
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
and in adjacent
Minnehaha County, South DakotaMinnehaha County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the population was 163,281, making it the most populous county in South Dakota. Its county seat is Sioux Falls...
.
External links
- USGS Site on the Coteau des Prairies
- Glacial History of Coteau des Prairies (University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota, the state’s oldest university, was founded in 1862 and classes began in 1882. Located in Vermillion, South Dakota, USD is home to South Dakota's only medical school and law school. USD is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents, and its current president is Jim...
).