Mountain Ranges Near the Mississippi River: Ozarks and Appalachians

No major mountain ranges directly border the Mississippi River. The closest are:

• Ozark Mountains: ~100 miles (160 km) west of the river in Missouri and Arkansas.
• Appalachian Mountains: ~500 miles (800 km) east of the river, running from Alabama to Maine.

The Mississippi flows through a broad alluvial plain; its valley is relatively flat, shaped by the river's own sediment deposition over millennia.