SPACEPHOTOS

The Wichita Mountains, an outlier of the Ouachitas of western Arkansas, are featured in this east-southeast-looking, low-oblique photograph. Domed sedimentaries were eroded, and the Wichitas are now composed of mostly igneous rocks, chiefly granites. The uplifted and base-leveled mountains have much in common with the Great Appalachians east of the Mississippi River. A large portion of the Wichita Mountains is a National Wildlife Refuge. Lawton, east-southeast of the Wichita Mountains, is a trade and commercial center for the surrounding cotton, wheat, and cattle area of southwestern Oklahoma. Industries include clothing, cement, and dairy products; limestone quarrying, and oil well production. The city also supports nearby Fort Sill, a U.S. Army Field Artillery Center. Visible north of Lawton are sediment-laden Lake Ellsworth and Fort Cobb Lake (left center).