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| All about geology. The three or four glacial advances that occurred did not reach southern ILL so did not get leveled and not much thickness of topsoil. Best farm ground in ILL is in the wind blown loess soils left from the Wisconsinian glacial advance (the last of the series) which encompassed most of north and central ILL. and parts of neighboring states.
The "Delta" is what you are driving thru on I-55 from the Boot Heel of MO southward to New Orleans. That entire area is part of the Mississippi River embayment. Just think of it as an ever deepening and widening v-shaped trough. Flat deep flood plain soils--sands, silts, and clays. Lots of irrigation on the sandier soils for cotton and other crops. Flooding fields for rice production. Levees to protect from river flooding. Just took Hwy 61 up from Natchez to Memphis so got to see lots of fields flooded. | |
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Farmland on I 55 between Memphis & Sisketon ???
