Badlands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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. They are often difficult to walk upon. Badlands usually have a spectacular color display that alternates from dark black/blue coal stria to bright clays to red scoria.
The term "badlands" has dual origins: the Lakota called the topography "mako sica", literally "bad lands", and French trappers called it "les mauvaises terres à traverser" - "the bad lands to cross". The naming is apt. Badlands form in areas of infrequent but intense rain-showers and sparse vegetation, a recipe for devastating erosion. The landscape contains steep slopes, loose soil, and clay, all of which inhibit easy travel.
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.
Some of the best-known badland formations can be found in the United States and Canada. In the U.S., Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and Badlands National Park in South Dakota have extensive badlands formations. Another popular area of badland formations is Toadstool Geologic Park in the Oglala National Grassland of northwestern Nebraska. There is a sizable badland area in Alberta, Canada, particularly in the valley of the Red Deer River where Dinosaur Provincial Park is located. The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta is also in a badlands setting, and exhibits fossils found in the area.
