Badlands National Park’s layered cliffs and fossil-rich prairie

Badlands National Park east of Interior in South Dakota combines jagged sedimentary cliffs with mixed-grass prairie, revealing millions of years of Great Plains history.

Badlands National Park in South Dakota lies east of Interior and combines jagged sedimentary cliffs with wide stretches of mixed-grass prairie, exposing rock layers that record tens of millions of years of Great Plains history. The park’s landscape brings together striped formations, open grassland and long ridges, making the contrast between eroded badlands and surrounding plains its defining feature.

Layered rock telling 75 million years of history

The rocks exposed in Badlands National Park were laid down over roughly the past 75 million years, and erosion has carved them into buttes, walls and pinnacles that shape the park’s skyline.rocks exposed in Badlands The strata show a change from an ancient inland sea to river floodplains, so that a walk along the cliffs traces the transition from marine to terrestrial deposits in a single view.ancient inland sea to river floodplains

The lower layers include Cretaceous marine rocks such as the Pierre Shale, overlain by the Fox Hills Formation, while the badlands themselves are eroded from the Tertiary White River Group.Pierre Shale and White River Group Within this group, named formations run from the Chamberlain Pass and Chadron formations through the Brule Formation to the Sharps Formation, with the Yellow Mounds soil horizon marking the boundary between older marine rocks and younger river and floodplain sediments.Chamberlain Pass, Chadron, Brule and Sharps formations

Striking erosional forms and colourful bands

Erosion by water and wind has cut the sedimentary deposits into sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires, giving the badlands their serrated outlines against the sky.buttes, pinnacles and spires In the North Unit a long ridge or “wall” runs generally west to east, forming a backbone of cliffs with gullies and side canyons incised into its face.ridge or wall

The formations show delicately banded colours linked to their composition, with white bands of volcanic ash, orange and rust tones from iron oxide, greys and tans formed by mixtures of silt, clay and ash, and purplish layers where manganese minerals have oxidised.delicately banded colours In places the Yellow Mounds stand out as mustard-coloured hills formed from deeply weathered soil developed on older marine deposits, adding another distinct set of tones to the scene.Yellow Mounds mustard-coloured hills

Prairie, fossils and protected status

Badlands National Park encompasses more than 240,000 acres of landscape in southwestern South Dakota, pairing its eroded formations with areas of mixed-grass prairie that form a large protected grassland environment.more than 240,000 acres of landscape The strata exposed in the park record approximately 75 million years of Earth history, making the site a reference point for Great Plains geology.record approximately 75 million years

The sedimentary layers contain numerous fossil beds, including exceptionally rich Oligocene vertebrate fossils such as three-toed horses, camels, sabre-toothed cats and rhinoceros-like mammals, which document a time when the regional climate was comparatively warm and moist.Oligocene vertebrate fossils The area was first protected as Badlands National Monument in 1929 and was redesignated as Badlands National Park in 1978, giving its cliffs, fossil beds and prairie a permanent place within the United States national park system.redesignated as Badlands National Park in 1978

Visiting Badlands National Park: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• Badlands National Park lies in southwestern South Dakota, east of Interior, and is reached by road routes that cross the Great Plains towards the badlands cliffs.
• The terrain combines steep, eroded slopes with stretches of prairie, and approaches to many viewpoints involve walking on uneven ground close to drop-offs.
• The park’s elevation on the high Great Plains means exposed viewpoints where wind and sun can be strong across the ridges and grasslands.
• The official language is English and the currency is the United States dollar.
• Entry requirements depend on your nationality; UK travellers can check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, Irish travellers the Department of Foreign Affairs at ireland.ie.

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Frequently asked questions about Badlands National Park

Where is Badlands National Park located?

Badlands National Park is in southwestern South Dakota in the United States, extending east of the small community of Interior across the high Great Plains.

What should visitors expect on a visit?

Visitors encounter eroded cliffs, gullies and spires set against open prairie, with viewpoints along the badlands wall giving wide panoramas of striped formations and grassland.

What makes Badlands National Park distinctive?

The park brings together a long ridge of badlands cliffs, colourful sedimentary bands and exceptionally rich Oligocene fossil beds within one protected mixed-grass prairie landscape.