Roadside Geology of Mississippi

the long version

It's a little-known fact, but Mississippi has a volcano. True, it's buried under 2,600 feet of sediment, but it was red hot and active roughly 79 to 69 million years ago and evidence of its bulging remains is visible in the Jacksonville. Mississippi emerged along the edge of a massive tear that formed as tectonics tried to rip the continent asunder. The full rift was never realized, but like a crack in a foundation, everything built on top of it has been affected. The failed rift became a linear basin, stretching from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico.