Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Kansas
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 09-12-2017, 01:22 PM
 
54 posts, read 119,599 times
Reputation: 32

Advertisements

I just checked the elevation of Kansas (Emporia specifically) and was surprised that it was around 1000 ft. I thought Kansas and the Midwest in general was flat? Seemed interesting.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-12-2017, 02:06 PM
Status: "119 N/A" (set 18 days ago)
 
12,954 posts, read 13,665,225 times
Reputation: 9693
The High Plains are anomalously high in elevation. An explanation has recently been proposed to explain this high elevation. As the Farallon plate was subducted into the mantle beneath the region, water trapped in hydrous minerals in the descending slab was forced up into the lower crust above. Within the crust this water caused the hydration of dense garnet and other phases into lower density amphibole and mica minerals. The resulting increase in crustal volume raised the elevation about one mile.[9][10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_P...(United_States)

I don't understand a word of this ,but there you have it.

Last edited by thriftylefty; 09-12-2017 at 02:52 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-12-2017, 02:58 PM
 
Location: Kansas City North
6,814 posts, read 11,531,564 times
Reputation: 17130
It's a flat high. Actually the more west you go in Kansas, the higher you go, from about 900 ft. In Kansas City to nearly 4,000 in Goodland near the Colorado border.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-12-2017, 05:20 PM
 
4,668 posts, read 3,895,546 times
Reputation: 3437
Kansas as a whole has a relatively high elevation. But Kansas is also mostly flat. High altitude and mountainous/hilly don't always go together, they are not synonymous. The eastern side of Kansas from Salina to the Missouri border is somewhat hilly. West of Salina is mostly flat with a some exceptions all the way to Colorado. The elevation rises as one heads west toward Colorado.

If I remember correctly the largest hill in Kansas has about a 1,000' rise. It's just SE of Manhattan. Edit: I looked it up and it's about a 420' rise.

Last edited by Mattks; 09-12-2017 at 05:30 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-12-2017, 07:03 PM
 
1,831 posts, read 3,196,756 times
Reputation: 2661
Kansas was covered by an inland sea (Western Interior Sea) for about 70 million years. Here is a book about it. I haven't read it, but it looks rather interesting.

Oceans of Kansas
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-12-2017, 08:27 PM
 
78,335 posts, read 60,527,398 times
Reputation: 49624
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cblueberry1 View Post
I just checked the elevation of Kansas (Emporia specifically) and was surprised that it was around 1000 ft. I thought Kansas and the Midwest in general was flat? Seemed interesting.
Flat <> sea level. I mean there are parts of China, Russia etc. that are very flat but even higher above sea level.

I guess everything is relative.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-13-2017, 07:59 AM
 
Location: Kansas City, MISSOURI
20,858 posts, read 9,518,220 times
Reputation: 15573
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-13-2017, 10:42 AM
 
Location: Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne
17,916 posts, read 24,336,832 times
Reputation: 39037
Something flat can be high. Imagine several piles of dirty laundry on the floor, now imagine a table, next to those piles of laundry. The table top is clearly flat despite being high above the piles of laundry.

A flat parking lot in Kansas can be higher than rugged, steep hills in West Virginia.

Now to really blow your mind, a flat thing can not only be high, it can slope. Sometimes dramatically, sometimes imperceptibly. As you drive west in Kansas, you are actually driving uphill very gradually even though the landscape is is flat. By the time you reach the Colorado border, you are significantly higher than you started in eastern Kansas.

A few minutes with maps like the one provided by James Bond 007 above can be illuminating. I'm surprised American schools don't have maps anymore or describe the very basics of the Earth (that big spherical thing we all live on). But fortunately we have the internet to fill in these little gaps in our knowledge.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-15-2017, 04:08 AM
 
54 posts, read 119,599 times
Reputation: 32
Very interesting. Thanks for all the answers.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-21-2017, 03:17 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma
17,772 posts, read 13,665,953 times
Reputation: 17806
Quote:
Originally Posted by ABQConvict View Post
Something flat can be high. Imagine several piles of dirty laundry on the floor, now imagine a table, next to those piles of laundry. The table top is clearly flat despite being high above the piles of laundry.

A flat parking lot in Kansas can be higher than rugged, steep hills in West Virginia.

Now to really blow your mind, a flat thing can not only be high, it can slope. Sometimes dramatically, sometimes imperceptibly. As you drive west in Kansas, you are actually driving uphill very gradually even though the landscape is is flat. By the time you reach the Colorado border, you are significantly higher than you started in eastern Kansas.

A few minutes with maps like the one provided by James Bond 007 above can be illuminating. I'm surprised American schools don't have maps anymore or describe the very basics of the Earth (that big spherical thing we all live on). But fortunately we have the internet to fill in these little gaps in our knowledge.
My favorite example of this is Cline's Corner New Mexico. Flat as a pancake but at over 7,000 feet elevation.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Kansas

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top