Coteau des Prairies

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The Coteau des Prairies: orange arrows indicate paths of the two lobes of the glacier around either side of the formation.

The Coteau des Prairies is a plateau, approximately 200 miles in length and 100 miles in width (320 by 160 km), rising from the prairie flatlands in eastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and Northwestern Iowa in the United States. The southeast portion of the Coteau comprises one of the distinct regions of Minnesota, called Buffalo Ridge.

The flatiron-shaped plateau was named by early French explorers from New France (Quebec). Coteau means "slope" in French.

The plateau is composed of thick glacial deposits, the remnants of many repeated glaciations, reaching a composite thickness of approximately 900 feet (275 m). They are underlain by small ridge of resistant Cretaceous shale. During the last (Pleistocene) Ice Age, two lobes of the glacier appear to have parted around the preexisting plateau and further deepened the lowlands flanking the plateau.

The plateau has numerous small glacial lakes and is drained by the Big Sioux River in South Dakota and the Cottonwood River in Minnesota. A quarry in the plateau was once the site for obtaining the traditional stone used in Native American peace pipes. Red pipe stone (catlinite), a fine-grained, easily-worked mineral was quarried near present day Pipestone, Minnesota and in adjacent Minnehaha County, South Dakota.

Coteau des Prairies

Missouri Coteau

USGS Site on the Coteau des Prairies
Glacial History of Coteau des Prairies (University of South Dakota).

	State of South Dakota Pierre (capital)
Regions	Badlands \| Black Hills \| Coteau des Prairies
Cities	Aberdeen \| Brandon \| Brookings \| Huron \| Madison \| Mitchell \| Pierre \| Rapid City \| Sioux Falls \| Spearfish \| Sturgis \| Vermillion \| Watertown \| Yankton
Counties	Aurora \| Beadle \| Bennett \| Bon Homme \| Brookings \| Brown \| Brule \| Buffalo \| Butte \| Campbell \| Charles Mix \| Clark \| Clay \| Codington \| Corson \| Custer \| Davison \| Day \| Deuel \| Dewey \| Douglas \| Edmunds \| Fall River \| Faulk \| Grant \| Gregory \| Haakon \| Hamlin \| Hand \| Hanson \| Harding \| Hughes \| Hutchinson \| Hyde \| Jackson \| Jerauld \| Jones \| Kingsbury \| Lake \| Lawrence \| Lincoln \| Lyman \| Marshall \| McCook \| McPherson \| Meade \| Mellette \| Miner \| Minnehaha \| Moody \| Pennington \| Perkins \| Potter \| Roberts \| Sanborn \| Shannon \| Spink \| Stanley \| Sully \| Todd \| Tripp \| Turner \| Union \| Walworth \| Yankton \| Ziebach

	State of Minnesota Saint Paul (capital)
Topics	Cities \| Climate \| Colleges and universities \| Congressional districts \| Demographics \| Economy \| Geology \| Governors \| High schools \| Historical Congressional delegations \| History \| Lakes \| Music \| Naval ships \| People \| Political parties \| Regions \| Rivers \| School districts \| Scouting \| Sports \| State fair \| State parks \| Territory \| Townships \| Transportation
Regions	Arrowhead \| Boundary Waters \| Buffalo Ridge \| Central \| Coulee Region \| Greater Minnesota \| Iron Range \| Minnesota River Valley \| North Shore \| Northwest Angle \| Pipestone \| Red River Valley \| Southeast \| Twin Cities metropolitan area
Major cities	Bloomington \| Duluth \| Minneapolis \| Rochester \| Saint Cloud \| Saint Paul
Smaller cities over 10,000 population	Albert Lea \| Alexandria \| Andover \| Anoka \| Apple Valley \| Austin \| Bemidji \| Blaine \| Brainerd \| Brooklyn Center \| Brooklyn Park \| Buffalo \| Burnsville \| Champlin \| Chanhassen \| Chaska \| Cloquet \| Columbia Heights \| Coon Rapids \| Cottage Grove \| Crystal \| Eagan \| East Bethel \| Eden Prairie \| Edina \| Elk River \| Fairmont \| Faribault \| Farmington \| Fergus Falls \| Forest Lake \| Fridley \| Golden Valley \| Ham Lake \| Hastings \| Hibbing \| Hopkins \| Hutchinson \| Inver Grove Heights \| Lakeville \| Lino Lakes \| Mankato \| Maple Grove \| Maplewood \| Marshall \| Mendota Heights \| Minnetonka \| Monticello \| Moorhead \| Mounds View \| New Brighton \| New Hope \| New Ulm \| North Branch \| North Mankato \| North St. Paul \| Northfield \| Oakdale \| Otsego \| Owatonna \| Plymouth \| Prior Lake \| Ramsey \| Red Wing \| Richfield \| Robbinsdale \| Rosemount \| Roseville \| St. Louis Park \| St. Michael \| St. Peter \| Sartell \| Sauk Rapids \| Savage \| Shakopee \| Shoreview \| South St. Paul \| Stillwater \| Vadnais Heights \| West St. Paul \| White Bear Lake \| White Bear Township \| Willmar \| Winona \| Woodbury \| Worthington
Counties	Aitkin \| Anoka \| Becker \| Beltrami \| Benton \| Big Stone \| Blue Earth \| Brown \| Carlton \| Carver \| Cass \| Chippewa \| Chisago \| Clay \| Clearwater \| Cook \| Cottonwood \| Crow Wing \| Dakota \| Dodge \| Douglas \| Faribault \| Fillmore \| Freeborn \| Goodhue \| Grant \| Hennepin \| Houston \| Hubbard \| Isanti \| Itasca \| Jackson \| Kanabec \| Kandiyohi \| Kittson \| Koochiching \| Lac qui Parle \| Lake \| Lake of the Woods \| Le Sueur \| Lincoln \| Lyon \| McLeod \| Mahnomen \| Marshall \| Martin \| Meeker \| Mille Lacs \| Morrison \| Mower \| Murray \| Nicollet \| Nobles \| Norman \| Olmsted \| Otter Tail \| Pennington \| Pine \| Pipestone \| Polk \| Pope \| Ramsey \| Red Lake \| Redwood \| Renville \| Rice \| Rock \| Roseau \| St. Louis \| Scott \| Sherburne \| Sibley \| Stearns \| Steele \| Stevens \| Swift \| Todd \| Traverse \| Wabasha \| Wadena \| Waseca \| Washington \| Watonwan \| Wilkin \| Winona \| Wright \| Yellow Medicine

	State of Iowa Des Moines (capital)
Regions	Coteau des Prairies \| Coulee Region \| Des Moines metropolitan area \| Great River Road \| Iowa Great Lakes \| Loess Hills \| Omaha‑Council Bluffs metropolitan area \| Quad Cities \| Siouxland \|
Largest cities	Ames \| Ankeny \| Bettendorf \| Burlington \| Cedar Falls \| Cedar Rapids \| Clinton \| Council Bluffs \| Davenport \| Des Moines \| Dubuque \| Fort Dodge \| Iowa City \| Marion \| Marshalltown \| Mason City \| Muscatine \| Ottumwa \| Sioux City \| Urbandale \| Waterloo \| West Des Moines
Counties	Adair \| Adams \| Allamakee \| Appanoose \| Audubon \| Benton \| Black Hawk \| Boone \| Bremer \| Buchanan \| Buena Vista \| Butler \| Calhoun \| Carroll \| Cass \| Cedar \| Cerro Gordo \| Cherokee \| Chickasaw \| Clarke \| Clay \| Clayton \| Clinton \| Crawford \| Dallas \| Davis \| Decatur \| Delaware \| Des Moines \| Dickinson \| Dubuque \| Emmet \| Fayette \| Floyd \| Franklin \| Fremont \| Greene \| Grundy \| Guthrie \| Hamilton \| Hancock \| Hardin \| Harrison \| Henry \| Howard \| Humboldt \| Ida \| Iowa \| Jackson \| Jasper \| Jefferson \| Johnson \| Jones \| Keokuk \| Kossuth \| Lee \| Linn \| Louisa \| Lucas \| Lyon \| Madison \| Mahaska \| Marion \| Marshall \| Mills \| Mitchell \| Monona \| Monroe \| Montgomery \| Muscatine \| O'Brien \| Osceola \| Page \| Palo Alto \| Plymouth \| Pocahontas \| Polk \| Pottawattamie \| Poweshiek \| Ringgold \| Sac \| Scott \| Shelby \| Sioux \| Story \| Tama \| Taylor \| Union \| Van Buren \| Wapello \| Warren \| Washington \| Wayne \| Webster \| Winnebago \| Winneshiek \| Woodbury \| Worth \| Wright

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Categories: Regions of South Dakota | Regions of Minnesota | Plateaus

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