The Badlands formed from a complex geologic setting. The topography that we see today is formed from erosion of the soft and not well-consolidated rocks. The oldest rocks found at The Badlands National Park are the Upper Cretaceous mudstones of the Pierre Shale (Graham, 2008). Overlying the Pierre Shale is the Fox Hills Formation, and overlying the Fox Hills Formation is the Tertiary White River Group. The White River Group contains a paleosol that are bright red. Overlying the Fox Hills Formation is the Chadron Formation, and overlying the Chadron Formation is the Brule Formation. The Chadron and the Brule Formation make up the White River Group.
The Chadron and Brule Formations were formed from the erosion of the Black Hills and Rocky Mountains due to the uplift from the Laramide Orogeny (Graham, 2008). As uplift occurs so does denudation to try and compensate for the uplift. The natural processes that shape the earth, such as uplift and erosion try to balance each other out. All of this sediment caused by the erosion of the Blacks and Rocky Mountains was carried east and …show more content…
Prairie dogs and bison are just two examples of mammals living in Badlands National Park. The Prairie dog is a keystone species meaning that its survival is crucial to the survival of many other animals (National Park Service, 2015a). The Prairie dogs excavate burrows in wide areas known as towns and these borrows provide shelter to many other animals such as the black-footed ferret. Some examples of large mammals that live in the Badlands National Park are bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, and deer. The large mammals are large enough that their body size gives them protection against cold; bigger animals have less surface area exposed in relation to their volume, so they lose heat more slowly than a smaller animal would (National Park Service,
The Chadron and Brule Formations were formed from the erosion of the Black Hills and Rocky Mountains due to the uplift from the Laramide Orogeny (Graham, 2008). As uplift occurs so does denudation to try and compensate for the uplift. The natural processes that shape the earth, such as uplift and erosion try to balance each other out. All of this sediment caused by the erosion of the Blacks and Rocky Mountains was carried east and …show more content…
Prairie dogs and bison are just two examples of mammals living in Badlands National Park. The Prairie dog is a keystone species meaning that its survival is crucial to the survival of many other animals (National Park Service, 2015a). The Prairie dogs excavate burrows in wide areas known as towns and these borrows provide shelter to many other animals such as the black-footed ferret. Some examples of large mammals that live in the Badlands National Park are bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, and deer. The large mammals are large enough that their body size gives them protection against cold; bigger animals have less surface area exposed in relation to their volume, so they lose heat more slowly than a smaller animal would (National Park Service,