Smoky Hills
| Smoky Hills | |
|---|---|
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| Geography | |
| Country | United States |
| States | Kansas and Nebraska |
| Region | Plains Border (subregion) |
| Range coordinates | 38°47′30″N 97°59′51″W / 38.7917°N 97.9975°WCoordinates: 38°47′30″N 97°59′51″W / 38.7917°N 97.9975°W |
| Parent range | Great Plains |
| Geology | |
| Age of rock | Cretaceous |
The Smoky Hills are an upland region of hills in the central Great Plains of North America. They are located in the Midwestern United States, encompassing north-central Kansas and a small portion of south-central Nebraska.
The hills are a dissected plain covered by tallgrass and mixed-grass prairie. The Smoky Hills were formed by sedimentary deposits during the Cretaceous period and consist of chalk, limestone, and sandstone rock outcroppings.
The Smoky Hills region is part of the Plains Border subregion of the Great Plains. It occupies nearly all of north-central Kansas, bordered on the west by the High Plains, on the northeast by the Dissected Till Plains, on the east by the Flint Hills, and on the south by the Arkansas River lowlands. The region extends into south-central Nebraska, bordered on the north by the Rainwater Basin.
It consists of three belts of hills, all running southwest to northeast, which correspond to the underlying geological formations (see geology section). The Smoky Hills proper comprise the easternmost belt; the two western belts are known as the Blue Hills. The hills of the westernmost belt are also known as the Chalk Bluffs. The Blue Hills escarpment forms the boundary with the High Plains to the west.
The Environmental Protection Agency divides the region into two Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregions: the Smoky Hills proper constituting the Smoky Hills Ecoregion in the east; and the Blue Hills and Chalk Bluffs constituting the Rolling Plains and Breaks Ecoregion in the west.
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Wikipedia