![]() It also damaged the park's lone residence, which housed park superintendent Jerry Toops, his wife, and their three children. The wall of water followed the Black River and swept through Johnson's Shut-ins State Park, depositing tons of rock, boulders and sediment along the way. 14, 2005, a section of dam wall along the old Taum Sauk reservoir collapsed, sending 1.3 billion gallons of water rushing down the side of Proffit Mountain in rural southeastern Missouri. We saw very few animals while on the Scour itself, but signs of reclamation of the area by animal life since the flood look promising: we spotted a frog sitting immobile amid a scrim of ice, bathing in the trickle of water that ran between the rocks.On Dec. Pioneer species like mosses and grass popped out of cracks and fissures in the rock, while farther down the Scour various species of deciduous trees had begun to grown amongst the scattered stones, boulders, and sediment. While most of the Scour we saw was devoid of animal and plant life, signs of reclamation by the surrounding forest is apparent. As a result of the upper rock being softer, the mass of rubble and boulders running along the bottom of the Scour is newer rock, Cambrian dolomite and conglomerate rock from more than 400 million years ago that the rush of water ripped from the earth. Older rock lies beneath newer layers, and is harder due to the increased pressure it has undergone. The oldest rock we observed was igneous granite, formed by volcanic activity and tectonic collision in the region nearly 1.5 billion years ago. While walking along the Scour, the aptly named section of exposed bedrock exposed by the 2005 dam break of the Tom Sauk Hydroelectric Plant atop the mountain, we passed over rubble from numerous epochs of Earth’s history. Francois Mountain Range, one of the oldest geologic formations in the midwest. Proffit Moutain is part of Missouri’s St. It is truly amazing that they were all relatively unhurt. They suffered non-critical injuries, with the only member of the family needing to go to the hospital being one of the ranger’s children who received severe burns from the heat packs put on him by the EMT’s to prevent hypothermia. Thankfully, no one was killed but the park ranger and his family were in their home at the time, which was lifted up by the flood and carried downriver. The engineers at the plant unwisely let the water level reach an unsafe height, which then flooded over and eroded the ground directly in front of the dam, causing the dam to bend and break under the immense pressure. Well, that was true until December 14th, 2005, when the dam burst and flooded the valley. In context, thats about ¾ of the power given off by an advanced coal-fired power plant, only the hydroelectric power plant gives off no carbon emissions or pollution of any kind. In fact, the hydraulic pressure of the dam is greater than that of the Hoover dam! The upper reservoir holds 1.5 billion gallons of water, which is used by the two hydroelectric turbines to generate over 450 megawatts. The Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station started construction in 1963 and then one of the largest in the world. We could see distinctive lines running down its back, and given its speed and choice of habitat (rocky, open areas), it’s plausible that we would find a racerunner. Six-lined Racerunners are commonly found in almost parts of Missouri, including the area in southeast Missouri that Taum Sauk is located. We determined that we saw more Northern Fence Lizards and a few Six-lined Racerunners (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus sexlineautus). Although we weren’t able to catch any of them, we took some observations and tried to ID them later with the help of the field guide. The next day as we were hiking the scour, we saw more lizards. Johnson), the average length is about 10-18 cm, but we also learned that the hatchlings are generally born in late August so it fits that this one would be small. According to my amphibians and reptiles book (The Amphibians and Reptiles of Missouri by Tom R. ![]() From head to tail It was about 7-8 cm, brownish-gray in color with a white and light-grey belly. In our campsite at the shut-ins, we found and briefly caught a Northern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus hyacinthinus).
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