Badlands South Dakota
Ecoregions of North Dakota and South Dakota
T he spectacular White River Badlands formed through the erosion of the soft Brule and Chadron clays and siltstones. The turbulent topography ranges from the sheer, highly dissected "Wall" to pastel-hued toeslopes laden with Oligocene fossils. This seemingly barren landscape is broken by grass-covered, perched "sod tables" that may be grazed or tilled. ... 43h. White River Badlands ... T he Northwestern Great Plains ecoregion encompasses the Missouri Plateau section of the Great Plains. It is a semiarid rolling plain of shale, siltstone, and sandstone punctuated by occasional buttes and badlands. Native grasslands persist in areas of steep or broken topography, but they have been largely replaced by spring wheat and alfalfa over most of the ecoregion. Agriculture is limited by erratic precipitation patterns and limited opportunities for irrigation. ... [Read More]
Badlands Natural History Association
Founded in 1959, Badlands Natural History Association is a not-for-profit organization established to support education and research efforts at Badlands National Park. The profits from sales are donated to the park and are used to print the park newspaper, fund a portion of the park's intern program, purchase library books, improve and maintain photographic collections, and support the Artist In Residence program. ... For information on Badlands Natural History Association, to request a full catalogue of sales items, or to become a member, call (605) 433 - 5489. ... [Read More]
Badlands National Park
The primary paved road in the Park is the Badlands Loop Road (Route 240) which extends for 30 miles between the Northeast and Pinnacles Entrance Stations and is maintained by the NPS. Some 20 developed overlooks lie along this route. The other major paved access to the Park is the NPS-maintained road north of the terminus of South Dakota Route 377. Graveled roads provide access to some outlying areas of the Park. Five trails, varying from one-quarter mile to eight miles in length, explore park features. For the majority of park visitors, a visit to Badlands NP consists of a drive (one direction only) of Loop Road. Typically, visitors enter the Park at one park entrance and exit the Park through another. For example, the Park brochure encourages westbound travelers on I-90 to use exit 131 and enter the Park at the Northeast Entrance Station. After passing through the Park via Loop Road, travelers rejoin I-90 at exit 110 in Wall. Eastbound travelers should do the reverse: begin ... [Read More]
Artist-In-Residence
For additional information, write: Artist-In-Residence Program, Badlands NP, PO Box 6, Interior, South Dakota USA 57750 ... BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK , South Dakota ... [Read More]
The Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Interval in Badlands National Park, South Dakota
A marine K-T boundary interval has been identified throughout the Badlands National Park region of South Dakota. Data from marine sediments suggest that deposits from two asteroid impacts (one close, one far away) may be preserved in the Badlands. These impact-generated deposits may represent late Maestrichtian events or possibly the terminal K-T event. Interpretation is supported by paleontological correlation, sequence stratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, and strontium isotope geochronology. This research is founded on nearly a decade of NPS approved field work in Badlands National Park and a foundation of previously published data and interpretations. ... [Read More]
CVO Menu - America's Volcanic Past - South Dakota
The Sharps Formation reflects an overall change in geologic and environmental conditions that began 26 to28 million years ago. The region became even drier, and mammoth ash fall deposits associated withtremendous ignimbrite-style volcanic eruptions in the Great Basin region episodically blanketed theBadland region. The Sharps consists mostly of tuffaceous sandstones, stream channel sand and floodplainmud (paleosols) typical of steppe or even desert-like conditions. Harksen and others (1961) who firstdescribed the formation thought its age was Miocene. The Sharps Formation is now recognized to be latestOligocene but is assigned to the Arikaree Group (a group dominated by Miocene-age rocks elsewhere inthe region).The highest peaks in the badlands consist of the eroded remnants of Sharp Formation. Morecomplete exposures of the Sharps Formation can be seen at Agate Fossil Beds National Park innorthwestern Nebraska (about 200 miles southwest of Badlands National Park). The Sharps Formationm ... [Read More]
Geology of Badlands National Park
At the close of the Eocene (about 34 million years ago), this land was a broad marshy plain crossed by sluggish streams flowing from highlands to the west. As the Oligocene Epoch drew to a close, volcanoes to the west and southwest ejected huge volumes of ash into the atmosphere. Borne eastward by the winds, the ash fell and became the whitish layer near the top of the Badlands formations. Slowly the climate began to change and increasingly dry winds blew from the north. Rainfall diminished. Grass, able to grow with less water, invaded and occupied the drying realms of forest and swamps. The animals changed too, with grasseaters and those able to withstand a more vigorous climate coming to the fore while other species disappeared. The water that today eats into the soft Badlands formations falls mostly as rain during torrential spring and summer storms. Present annual precipitation, including the storms, is only 16 inches, just enough to sustain the grass. ... [Read More]
Ecoregions of North Dakota and South Dakota
T heodore Roosevelt once said, "The Badlands look like Poe wrote." The gothic erosional landscape of the Little Missouri Badlands formed when the Little Missouri River was diverted along a steeper course by Pleistocene glaciers. The soft siltsand clays of the Sentinel Butte and Bullion Creek Formations continually melt off the sparsely vegetated conical hillslopes. Thecollapse of caverns created by burning coal seams also hastens erosion. Rocky Mountain juniper grows on the hillslopes;cottonwood and green ash appear in the riparian areas. Ephemeral, flashy stream flow creates steep, downcut channels in the softsediments along the tributaries to the Little Missouri River. Grazing and recreation are the dominant land uses. This region alsoincludes the Killdeer Mountains. ... [Read More]
South Dakota - Buckle Up Badlands
When the Buckle Up Badlands project was initiated, the area surrounding the Badlands National Park had a seat belt usage rate of 38.6 percent. The project was designed to educate more than 950,000 annual park visitors and National Park Service (NPS) employees of the life saving and injury preventing benefits of using a seat belt. The educational and enforcement efforts informed park visitors and employees of South Dakota’s seat belt laws and the National Park primary enforcement policy set forth in a Presidential Executive Order (Number 13043). ... [Read More]
Badlands National Park (National Park Service)
Located in southwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park consists of 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. The Badlands Wilderness Area covers 64,000 acres and is the site of the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal in North America. The Stronghold Unit is co-managed with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and includes sites of 1890s Ghost Dances. Established as Badlands National Monument in 1939, the area was redesignated "National Park" in 1978. Over 11,000 years of human history pale to the ages old paleontological resources. Badlands National Park contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 23 to 35 million years old. Scientists can study the evolution of mammal species such as the horse, sheep, rhinoceros and pig in the Badlands formations. ... [Read More]
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