Badlands
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. Badlands usually have a spectacular color display that alternates from dark black/blue coal stria to bright clays to red
scoria.
The term "badlands" probably originated in a couple of ways. The
Lakota called the topograpy "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 rainshowers 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 sizeable 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.
