Badlands

This article is about the type of terrain. Note that in the late 1800s, the term "badlands" was extended to refer to urban regions of vice and crime. For the movie, see Badlands (movie).

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Badlands are a type of arid terrain with clay-rich soil that has been extensively eroded by wind and water. Canyons, ravines, gullies, hoodoos and other such geological forms are common in badlands.

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Badlands usually have a spectacular color display that alternates from dark black/blue coal stria to bright clays to red scoria.

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Some of the most famous fossil beds are found in badlands, where the forces of erosion have exposed the sedimentary layers and the lack of vegetation cover makes surveying relatively easy.

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One of the most famous badland formations lies in the Dakotas. This area is home to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and Badlands National Park in South Dakota, and is the probable place of origin of the actual term "badlands". The Lakota Indians called the place "mako sica", literally "bad lands", and French trappers called it "les mauvaises terres a traverser" - "the bad lands to cross". The naming is apt. Badlands form in areas of infrequent but intense rainshowers and sparse vegetation, a recipe for devastating erosion. The landscape is all steep slopes, loose soil, and clay, which does not exactly lend itself to cross-country jaunts.

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Another popular area of badland formations is Toadstool Geologic Park, in the Oglala National Grassland of northwestern Nebraska.

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There is also a sizeable badland area in Alberta. The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta exhibits fossils found in the area.

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Arid: A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. As a result, environments subject to arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic....

Terrain: Terrain, or land relief, is the third or vertical dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used. Topography has recently become an additional synonym, though in many parts of the world it retains its original more general meaning of description of place....

Clay: :For the town in the United States, see Clay, New York....

Badlands related Images and Photos (experimental)

Badlands	Badlands (DVD)	Badlands (DVD)(WS)	Badlands 1974
Badlands National Park South Dakota USA	Big Sky Badlands South Dakota	Banded Buttes Badlands National Park South Dakota USA	Badlands Formations at Makoshika State Park in Glendive Montana USA
South Dakota Badlands National Park a Huge Bison Bull Casts a Menacing Eye	South Dakota Badlands National Park a New Prairie Dog Mom Left Keeps a Watchful Eye About	Creosote Bush Grow at the Base of Badlands Near 20 Mule Team Canyon	A Wild Horse Lingers at the Edge of the Badlands Near Fryburg N.D.