You Are Here - The Big Badlands - Badlands National Park, SD
N 43° 52.167 W 102° 13.995
13T E 722311 N 4861094
The Big Badlands area of Badlands National Park is on the loop road west of the main park road.
Waymark Code: WMMJV5
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 09/29/2014
Views: 16
The Big Badlands is an area of spectacular eroded buttes and pinnacles. While the visitor cannot get among the features, as can be done in other areas of the park, this is one places to look down upon the area.
Located in southwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park consists of 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires surrounded by a mixed-grass prairie ecosystem. The mixed grass prairie is a transitional zone between the tall-grass prairie to the east and the short-grass prairie to the west.
The Badlands were formed by the geologic forces of deposition and erosion. Deposition of sediments began 69 million years ago when an ancient sea stretched across what is now the Great Plains. After the sea retreated, successive land environments, including rivers and flood plains, continued to deposit sediments. Although the major period of deposition ended 28 million years ago, significant erosion of the Badlands did not begin until a mere half a million years ago. Erosion continues to carve the Badlands buttes today. Eventually, the Badlands will completely erode away.
Info from the NPS Badlands National Park website.
Location Name: The Big Badlands, Badlands National Park, SD
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Visit Instructions:
A photo of either you or your GPS at the site is welcomed but not required.