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Badlands
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Layered rock formations of the Badlands are illuminated by warm sunset light in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, with a clear sky above the rugged landscape. Map highlighting the location of the Badlands region in southwestern South Dakota, shown in orange within the state, with surrounding states Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota labeled. An inset globe at the lower left shows the region's position in North America.
Tour South Dakota's Black Hills to find rich fossil deposits amid eroded hills and gullies
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Layered rock formations of the Badlands are illuminated by warm sunset light in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, with a clear sky above the rugged landscape.
Badlands National Park Badlands National Park, southwestern South Dakota.

Badlands

region, South Dakota, United States
Also known as: South Dakota Badlands
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History
Map highlighting the location of the Badlands region in southwestern South Dakota, shown in orange within the state, with surrounding states Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota labeled. An inset globe at the lower left shows the region's position in North America.
Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Badlands, barren region covering some 2,000 square miles (5,200 square km) of southwestern South Dakota, U.S. It has an extremely rugged landscape almost devoid of vegetation. It was created by cloudbursts that cut deep gullies in poorly cemented bedrock; its extensive fossil deposits have yielded the remains of such animals as the three-toed horse, camel, saber-toothed tiger, and rhinoceros. Badlands National Park (379 square miles [982 square km]), lying mostly between the Cheyenne and White rivers, was established as a national monument in 1939 and a national park in 1978.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
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