What geological formation is this?

[bugo]

https://maps.google.com/?ll=35.255572,-94.75841&spn=0.016611,0.038495&t=k&z=15

It's the water formation running from SW to NE.  It runs several miles.  It almost looks like a series of sloughs.  What is it?  The expressway running to the north is US 59, and the E-W highway that turns NW-SE is OK 9.

[NE2]

Strip mines: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=35.25487,-94.75880&z=15&t=T

But since the earth produced humans, it's still geological

[bugo]

That makes sense.  There's a lot of coal in that area, so that's possibly what they were.

[Brandon]

That makes sense.  There's a lot of coal in that area, so that's possibly what they were.

That's my guess as to what was mined there since one of the nearby creeks is "Coal Creek" on the USPS topo map.

[mukade]

But since the earth produced humans, it's still geological

The water formation would be caused by strip mines, but I believe the geological feature would be be a "fold" (as contrasted with a thrust)? Specifically, a syncline.

[NE2]

What's interesting on the topos is at the northeast end you can see where the terrain drops away and the mines end: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=35.27159,-94.71378&z=15&t=T That to me implies that it's a relatively flat layer. But I know very little about geology.

[Brandon]

Looks like an eroded anticline with the center southeast of the coal mines (or syncline to the northwest).  The coal layer itself may only be a shallow one, or economically viable as a shallow mine.  If you zoom out on NE2's map, the folds become a bit more obvious.

[mukade]

These strip coal mines continue into Arkansas around Huntington near Mansfield. I asked my father-in-law who is from that area to make sure that is what they are, and he confirmed the area had many that were mined years ago. He said they were supposed to be filled in, but that commitment was not honored by the owners. Like Oklahoma, they have gas wells in the area as well. Funny that I never realized this as many times as I visited near there.

[Road Hog]

The strip mining extended as far east in Arkansas as Russellville. There used to be an old strip mine that got filled in by Lake Dardanelle and formed fingers that were great for fishing. Sometime in the 1990s the Corps of Engineers reclaimed the area and now it's a park.