![]() |
This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2009) |
South Arkansas | |
---|---|
![]() Texarkana | |
![]() South Arkansas' 15 counties highlighted in red. | |
Country | United States |
State | Arkansas |
Largest city | Texarkana |
South Arkansas lies within the southernmost portions of Arkansas Gulf Coastal Plain and Delta regions. [1] It encompasses the lower 15 counties of the state.
In the 1920s, nationwide attention focused on South Arkansas when the Smackover Field [2] was ranked first among the nation's oil fields. For five months in 1925, the 40-square-mile (100 km2) Smackover Field was the focal point of one of the wildest mineral booms in North America. Today, south Arkansas's oil fields produce petroleum throughout a 10-county area. [3]
Columbia and Union counties also stretch over one of the largest Brine reserves in the world. Bromine is derived from brine, or saltwater, and local companies play an international role in the commercialization of bromine and its many applications.
Union County is a county located on the central southern border of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,639. The county seat is El Dorado. The county was formed on November 2, 1829, and named in recognition of the citizens' petition for a new county, which said that they were petitioning "in the spirit of Union and Unity." The county is directly adjacent to the south to Union Parish in the state of Louisiana.
Ouachita County is a county located in the south central part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 26,120.
Columbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 24,552. The county seat is Magnolia. The county was formed on December 17, 1852, and was named for Christopher Columbus. The Magnolia, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Columbia County.
Cleveland County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Its population was 8,689 at the 2010 U.S. census. The county seat and largest city is Rison.
Hampton is a city in Calhoun County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,324 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Calhoun County.
Emerson is a town in Columbia County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 368 at the 2010 census.
Magnolia is a city in Columbia County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 11,577. The city is the county seat of Columbia County.
Leola is a town in Grant County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 501 at the 2010 census. It is the southernmost municipality within the Central Arkansas region.
Prattsville is a city in Grant County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 305 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Central Arkansas region.
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city is located about 100 miles south of Little Rock. Situated on bluffs overlooking the Ouachita River, the city developed because of the river. The recorded history began in 1782 when a Spanish military post was established on the site of an old French trading post called Écore à Fabri. When Ouachita County was formed in 1842, American settlers changed the name to Camden. The city became an important port during the steamboat era when Camden became known as the “Queen City” of the Ouachita. In 1864, Camden became the unintended focus of the Red River Campaign, a major Civil War effort resulting in several significant battles.
Louann is a town in Ouachita County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 195 at the 2000 census, which fell to 164 in the 2010 census. It is part of the Camden Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Calion is a second-class city in Union County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 494 at the 2010 census.
El Dorado, founded by Matthew Rainey, is a city in, and the county seat of, Union County, on the southern border of Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 18,884.
Norphlet is a city in Union County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census the population stood at 844.
Smackover is a small city in northern Union County, Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population was at 1,865. It had a large oil boom in the 1920s, with production continuing for some time.
The Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources is a museum and Arkansas state park in Smackover, Arkansas, in the United States. The museum was formed in the 1980s to tell the history of the petroleum industry and later the brine industry as key economic movements spurred by natural resources in South Arkansas.
The Arkansas Timberlands is a region of the U.S. state of Arkansas generally encompassing the area south of the Ouachita Mountains, south of Central Arkansas and west of the Arkansas Delta. With several different definitions in use by various state agencies, the Arkansas Timberlands is essentially a region known for dense pine and cypress forests covering hilly terrain and lining numerous rivers. Modern settlement created a significant logging industry and subsequent clearance agriculture which provided the basis of the local economy until the discovery of petroleum. Local tourism is largely based on the popularity of deer hunting and bass fishing. Attractions there include Marks' Mills Battleground Historical Monument, Jenkins' Ferry Battleground Historical Monument, Overflow National Wildlife Refuge, Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge, South Arkansas Arboretum, Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources, White Oak Lake State Park, Poison Springs Battleground State Park, Millwood State Park, and Pond Creek National Wildlife Refuge. The Arkansas Timberlands is the birthplace of former President of the United States Bill Clinton.
The Smackover Formation is a geologic formation in Arkansas. It preserves fossils dating back to the Jurassic period.
Bromine production in the United States of 225,000 tonnes in 2013 made that country the second-largest producer of bromine, after Israel. The US supplied 29 percent of world production. Since 2007, all US bromine has been produced by two companies in southern Arkansas, which extract bromine from brine pumped from the Smackover Formation. At an advertised price of US$3.50 to US$3.90 per kg, the US 2013 US production would have a value of roughly US$800 million.
The geology of Arkansas includes deep 1.4 billion year old igneous crystalline basement rock from the Proterozoic known only from boreholes, overlain by extensive sedimentary rocks and some volcanic rocks. The region was a shallow marine, riverine and coastal environment for much of the early Paleozoic as multi-cellular life became commonplace. At the end of the Paleozoic in the Permian the region experienced coal formation and extensive faulting and uplift related to the Ouachita orogeny mountain building event. Extensive erosion of new highlands created a mixture of continental and marine sediments and much of the state remained flooded even into the last 66 million years of the Cenozoic. In recent Pleistocene and Holocene time, glacial sediments poured into the region from the north, down major rivers, forming dunes and sedimentary ridges. Today, Arkansas has an active oil and gas industry, although hydraulic fracturing related earthquake swarms have limited extraction. Mining industries in the state also produce brines, sand, gravel and other industrial minerals.
Coordinates: 33°12′N92°42′W / 33.2°N 92.7°W