Collections of these dome-like hills are common in landscapes throughout the United States. Depending on your region, you might know them as Mima mounds, hogwallow mounds, or even pimple mounds–and their origin isn’t always clear. Theories range from seismic activity to gophers—and even just an accumulation of sediment. The prairie mounds on our homepage today are part of Oregon’s Zumwalt Prairie, a protected grassland area in northeast Oregon. Encompassing some 330,000 acres, it’s of one of the largest remaining tracts of bunchgrass prairie in North America. Once part of an extensive grassland in the region, this portion has remained preserved due to its high elevation, which made farming difficult.
Mysterious prairie mounds abound
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
To Roswell, and beyond!
-
Replica of a Viking home in Dublin National Botanic Gardens, Ireland
-
World Population Day
-
Saguaro cacti, Ironwood Forest National Monument, Arizona
-
Rethymno, Crete, Greece
-
Golden larches and Prusik Peak, the Enchantments, Washington
-
Here’s looking at you, teachers
-
Pamukkale, Turkey
-
Get the bear facts
-
Take a hike near Lovers Lane
-
National Roller Coaster Day
-
Paradise, found
-
From pirate port to nature preserve
-
Pont dArcole over the Seine river, Paris, France
-
An island in the Highlands
-
Merry and bright
-
Travel Sunday: Flamenco in Granada, Andalusia, Spain
-
An unlikely friendship in the wild
-
Grand Canyon National Park turns 105
-
In the Highlands for Saint Andrew s Day
-
Celebrating World Art Day
-
Last stop before leaving the solar system
-
Loud waters
-
Kirkjufell, Iceland
-
Dyavolski Most
-
The puffin-rabbit connection
-
Looking back on 150 years of rail travel
-
Quiver trees in Namibia
-
Sutherland Falls in Fiordland National Park
-
Halfway Day