Mississippi

MISSISSIPPI (mis-i-sip'i), the "Magnolia State," a South Central State of the U.S.A., situated between 30° 13' and 35° N. lat. and 88° 7' and 91° 41' longitude W. of Greenwich. The State is bounded N. by Tennessee, E. by Alabama, S. by the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana, and W. by Louisiana, from which it is separated by the Pearl river and the Mississippi, and by Arkansas, from which it is separated by the Mississippi. The total area is 46,865 sq.m., of which 503 sq.m. are water surface.

Physical Features.

The greater part of the State lies in the Mississippi embayment of the Gulf coastal plain, the surface rising almost imperceptibly from the coast to the north-east. The highest elevations, about Boo ft. above the sea, are on the Pontotoc ridge in Tippah and Union counties in the north. The uplift of the State is enough to expose the formations of four distinct geological periods. In the extreme N.E. are found the oldest rocks in the State—lower Devonian and, not so old, an extension of the lower Carboniferous which underlies the Warrior coal-fields of Alabama. The Cretaceous region includes, with the exception of the lower Carboniferous, all that part of the State eastward of a line cutting the Tennessee boundary about 25 m. W., and drawn southward and eastward about 75 m., to the Alabama line. Deposits of the Tertiary period cover more than half the State, extending from the border of the Cretaceous westward nearly to the Yazoo delta and the Mississippi bottom, and southward to within a few miles of the Gulf coast. Seven formations, or groups, of the Tertiary strata have been distinguished in Mississippi. The older formation of the Quaternary period is the Lafayette, which immediately overlies all the Cretaceous groups except the prairies of the Selma chalk and all the Tertiary except the Porters Creek and Vicksburg formations and part of the Jackson. The second Quaternary formation is the Port Hudson, occurring within 20 m. of the Gulf coast, and, with alluvium, in the Yazoo delta. The Yazoo

delta is a strip of bottom land between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, extending from N. to S. about 175 m., with an average width of more than 6o m. and covering an area of about 7,000 sq. m. With the exception of a few flat ridges running from N. to S., it is so low that, to protect it from overflows, it requires an unbroken line of levees averaging 15 ft. in height. Along the east ern border of this delta, and along the Mississippi itself, extends a belt of hills or bluffs cut by deep ravines. East of the belt are level or gently rolling prairies, and along the Gulf coast is a low, marshy tract.

The coast-line, about 85 m. long, is bordered by a beach of white sand, and broken by several small and shallow indentations, among which are St. Louis, Biloxi, Pascagoula and Point aux Chenes bays. Separated from it by the shallow and practically unnavigable Mississippi sound is a chain of low, long and narrow sand islands, the largest of which are Petit Bois, Horn, Ship and Cat.

The principal rivers are : the Mississippi on the western border, and its tributaries, the Yazoo and the Big Black ; the Pearl and Pascagoula, which drain much of the southern portion of the State and flow into the Gulf ; and the Tombigbee, which drains most of the north-eastern portion. The Pontotoc ridge separates the drain age system of the Mississippi from that of the Tombigbee. Extend ing from the north-eastern part of the State southward, this ridge divides in Choctaw county, the eastern branch separating the drainage basin of the Pascagoula from that of the Pearl, and the western branch separating the drainage basin of the Pearl from that of the Big Black and the Mississippi. The delta is drained chiefly by the Yazoo. A small area in the north-eastern corner is drained northward by the Tennessee and the Hatchie. Most of the rivers flowing into the Gulf are obstructed by sand-bars and navigable only during high water from January to April. Oxbow lakes and bayous are common only in the Delta.