Badlands
By ! Tom Carroll
18 Jun 2008
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 are a land of sharp ridges, steep walled canyons, gullies, pyramids and knobs that has been so ruthlessly ravaged by wind and water that it is now hugely picturesque. It is a wonderland of bizarre, colorful spires and pinnacles, massive buttes and deep gorges. Erosion of the Badlands reveals sedimentary layers of different colors: purple and yellow (shale), tan and gray (sand and gravel), red and orange (iron oxides) and white (volcanic ash).
About 75 million years ago a shallow sea covered the Great Plains region. In today's Badlands the bottom of that sea appears as a grayish-black sedimentary rock called Pierre (peer) shale. This layer is a rich source of fossils. A variety of fossilized animals have been found in the Park from these sea creatures that sank to the bottom of the sea when they died including the cephalopod (squid-like creature), clams, crabs, snails, ancient fish, mosasaurs (giant marine lizards), pterosaurs (flying reptiles), Archelon (giant sea turtles) and Hesperonis (diving bird similar to a modern loon). To see more of the Badlands, check out http://carroll77.zenfolio.com/p581462870/
But if, on the other hand, you want the full Badlands effect: the taste, the smells, the canyons, the colors, the soils, the rain, the sun, the sky, the grass, the clouds, the sunset, the flowers, the ants, the cacti, and the night --- you really need "BADLANDS" --- the book! http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/272325
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