Badlands National Park

Even if you know it's there - you will still be surprised! Maybe be we are just used to gradual transitions - there is always a morning between a night and a day, there is always spring between winter and summer. But this…Out of nowhere, this strange range of mountains raise just off the highway I-90.

These limestone hills look empty and deterrent. All this is the result of two opposite processes: deposition and erosion. Striped look of Badlands reflects the geological history of this area: 70 millions years ago there was a shallow inland sea, stretching across what is now the Great Plains; the sea drained away, and each time the rivers flooded the area - they deposited a new layer on the surface; dryer and cooler climate came 30 millions years ago, brining savannas to this place.

Now, for approximately five hundred thousand years, wind and water have been destroying millions of years of depositions. Climate here is very dry, so the destruction is very slow. Every year as much as 1 inch of surface gets washed away from the hills. Another 500 000 years - and Badlands will be gone…

Vegetation, mostly prairie grasses and some trees, covers less than half the area; wildlife population includes bighorn sheep, antelope, and bison.

Badlands National Park was authorized as national monument in 1929 and established as a national park in 1978.

[Back to album | Back to photography | Back to front page]

Last updated: Monday, September 03, 2001