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by Joshua Heston
Every once in awhile, the raw, elemental heart of these old Ozark mountains may be found.
Rocky Falls (just off Highway N southeast of Eminence, Missouri) is an exposed — and extraordinarily dense — volcanic cliff composed of reddish-brown rhyolite poryphyry.
Rhyolite is an igneous rock so dense it scarcely erodes.
After the volcanoes came floods, covering the Ozarks beneath the sea and laying down great quantities of sediment.
The sediment formed great hills dolomite and sandstone.
As the sea retreated, erosion began carving the creeks and rivers of today’s Ozark hills.
At Rocky Falls, the running water carved away the soft dolomite and sandstone mountains, only to expose the dense, volcanic rhyolite poryphory.
Here, the water carved no more and was funneled into a narrow channel.
It is here we can find the beautiful — and primeval — Rocky Falls.
— Joshua Heston, editor
May 28, 2009
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Rocky Falls photo plates
All photo credits: J. Heston. Location: rural Shannon County, Missouri • SOTO © Archive. 02/20/09
