Badlands, the

Section of the Missouri Plateau of southwest South Dakota, east of the Black Hills. The Badlands cover an area some 193 km/120 mi long by 40-80 km/25-50 mi wide, and are sometimes regarded as extending south of the Black Hills into northwest Nebraska and east Wyoming. The region is characterized by unusual rock formations - sharp spires, saw-toothed ridges, steep gorges, and mesas - sculpted by wind erosion and torrential downpours of rain. It was given the generic term ‘Badlands’, possibly by American Indian and early French traders and trappers, because of the difficulty they experienced in crossing such inhospitable terrain.

The white to deep pink and orange rock structures in the Badlands are composed of soft shales, clays, and limestones, and present an eerie, baked, moonlike landscape. A great number of fossils, including those of an especially rich array of Oligocene mammals, have been unearthed here. The Badlands National Park (985 sq km/380 sq mi), in part located between the White and Bad rivers, was created in 1939 as a National Monument. With its headquarters at Cedar Pass, it is home to a herd of bison, reintroduced to the area in 1963. Part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is in the southern unit of the park. Kadoka has been an important outfitting point for journeys into the Badlands, one of the state's most popular scenic areas. The Pinnacles, in the north-central section, are 993 m/3,255 ft high. There is also a Badlands section of southwestern North Dakota, along the Little Missouri River.