Page snapshot: Mississippi State Geologic Map; Fossil; Rock; Mineral; Gem; Highest and Lowest Elevations; Places to Visit; and Additional Resources.
Image above: Paleogene petrified logs at the Mississippi Petrified Forest; learn more here. Photo by amanderson2 (flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image cropped and resized).
Geologic Map of Mississippi
Geologic map of Mississippi showing maximum ages of mappable units. Image by Jonathan R. Hendricks for the Earth@Home project developed using QGIS and USGS data (public domain) from Fenneman and Johnson (1946) and Horton et al. (2017).
Mississippi State Fossils: Prehistoric Whales (Basilosaurus cetoides and Zygorhiza kochii)
The state fossils of Mississippi are the ancient whales Basilosaurus cetoides and Zygorhiza kochii. Learn more about these ancient whales and their relatives here.
The early whale Zygorhiza kochii. Photograph by "FunkMonk" (Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license).
Mississippi State Rock: Petrified Wood
Petrified wood is designated as Mississippi’s state rock, although it is actually a type of fossil. At the Mississippi Petrified Forest in Flora, Mississippi, a large number of logs became fossilized after they washed down an ancient river channel and were buried by sediment, preventing them from decaying (learn more here). Eventually, the organic material was replaced with silicate minerals.
Large piece of petrified wood on display at the Mississippi Petrified Forest. Photograph by "DM" (Flickr; Creative Commons Attribution-NoDervis 2.0 Generic license).
Mississippi State Mineral: None.
Mississippi does not have an official state mineral. What do you think it should be? Answer in the comments below!
Mississippi State Gem:
Mississippi does not have an official state gem. What do you think it should be? Answer in the comments below!
Mississippi's Highest and Lowest Elevations
Highest Elevation: Woodhall Mountain
Mississippi's highest point is Woodall Mountain, with an elevation of 246 meters (807 feet). The mountain was originally called Yow Hill, and it was the scene of the 1862 Battle of Iuka during the American Civil War. It is located near Mississippi Highway 25 in the state's northeastern corner.
Woodhall Mountain, the highest point in Mississippi. Photograph by Skye Marthaler (Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license).
Lowest Elevation: Gulf of Mexico Shoreline
The lowest points in Mississippi are found along the coast, where the shoreline meets the Gulf of Mexico.
Beach on the Gulf of Mexico near Biloxi, Mississippi. Photograph by Nicolas Henderson (Flickr; Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license; image cropped and resized).
Places to Visit
The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. Photograph by Warren D. Allmon.
The Dunn-Seiler Museum at Mississippi State University. Image provided courtesy of T. Brent Funderburk, Mississippi State University.
Fossilized logs at Petrified Forest, Mississippi. Photograph by "faungg" (Flickr; Creative Commons Attribution-NoDervis 2.0 Generic license).
Additional resources
