Cross County is established on the rich, fertile, alluvial soils of the
Mississippi Alluvial Plain. In Arkansas, this region is called the
Arkansas Delta (in Arkansas, usually referred to as "the Delta"), having a distinct history and culture from adjacent regions. Bisecting the county from north to south is
Crowley's Ridge, a geologic anomaly rising from the Delta composed of
loess soil and generally remains covered in
oak-hickory forest. Today, the majority (68 percent) of the county is used for row agriculture. Roughly the western third of the county is within the
Western Lowlands Pleistocene Valley Train subregion of the Delta. This region is characterized as flat windblown deposits of silty, sandy soils, and
loess with a high groundwater table.
Post oak and
loblolly pine are native in the higher elevations, with
overcup oak,
water hickory,
willow oak, and
pin oak and
pondberry native in
wetlands. Today,
row agriculture is extensive (mostly soybeans and cotton), with commercial
aquaculture (
crawfish, baitfish, and
catfish farms) also common. Crowley's Ridge is a series of loess hills more closely associated with the
Appalachian Mountains of
Tennessee and
Kentucky than the Delta country surrounding it. Composed of sandy loess stacked on gravel deposits later eroded by streams into ravines, Crowley's Ridge rises from the flat Delta by up to . Crowley's Ridge remains largely wooded with
oak-hickory forest or
beech–maple forest, with little land in cultivation. Forests are related to the
Appalachian cove forests, with post oak,
blackjack oak,
southern red oak,
white oak,
beech and
sugar maple forest standing in contrast to the
southern floodplain forests in the rest of Cross County. It ranks 49th of the 75 Arkansas counties in area. The county is located approximately south of
Jonesboro, west of
Memphis,
Tennessee, and east of
Little Rock.{{#tag:ref|Mileages from Cross County to Jonesboro, Memphis, and Little Rock are based on highway miles using county seat Wynne for Cross County.
Hydrology Water is an important part of Cross County's geography, history, and culture. Hydraulically, the county is split into two watersheds by Crowley's Ridge, with the eastern half draining to the
St. Francis River or its tributaries, and the western half draining to the
L'Anguille River. The deep, wide, calm, and navigable
St. Francis River has been important for every civilization in Cross County since prehistory. The
Casqui tribe settled in the area where the
Tyronza River empties into the St. Francis. Today, this settlement is preserved within
Parkin Archaeological State Park. Centuries later, European settlers founded
Wittsburg as a port city as the northernmost navigable point on the St. Francis a few miles downstream from Parkin, opening the region to regional trade. Within the county, Brushy Creek, Cross County Ditch, Copeland Slough, Prairie Creek, and Village Creek are important watercourses.
Protected areas and is preserved as a trail The largest protected area in Cross County is Village Creek State Park on Crowley's Ridge near Wynne. The park is known as a large section of preserved forest in its natural state within the Delta, a 27-hole golf course, catfish and bass fishing in the two lakes, horseback riding trails, and a hiking trail along the former
Memphis to Little Rock Military Road. The
Parkin Archeological State Park in Parkin preserves a prehistoric
Native American mound building settlement. The
Brushy Creek Wildlife Management Area is a small property reforested in
bottomland hardwood forest by the
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission near Hickory Ridge. The
Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission maintains the Wittsburg Natural Area as natural Crowley's Ridge habitat, but there is no legal public access to the area. ==Demographics==