- Shawnee Hills
The Shawnee Hills is a region of Southern
Illinois that rests mainly in an East-West arc roughly following the outline of the southern end of the Illinois Basin. Whereas Mississippian andPennsylvania Age rock layers are deep beneath the surface in central Illinois, these strata pierce the surface in southern Illinois. The Shawnee Hills are surface expressions of the more weather resistant limestone andsandstone layers.Within the Shawnee Hills,
limestone is extensively quarried from outcrops, while both north and south of the Shawnee Hills, coal is mined by surface techniques on shallow coal seams near the edges of the Illinois Basin and by deep mining techniques in the deeper parts of the Basin. Additionally, extensive faulting in and around the Shawnee Hills occurred due to deeptectonic activities and formed sites for deposition offluorite , a mineral used for production of the elementfluorine . At one time, about 80% of the world's fluorspar (the limestone ore containingfluorite ) was mined near the towns of Rosiclare and Cave in Rock.A large portion of the Shawnee Hills lies within the
Shawnee National Forest ; one of the largest protected Federal forests in theUnited States . The beauty of the Shawnee Hills, the Shawnee National Forest, and theOhio River Valley make the area a prime tourist destination.ee also
*
Ohio River
*Shawnee National Forest
*Dixon Springs State Park
*Cave-in-Rock State Park References
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