Badlands vs Black Hills: Difference and Comparison

Badlands and Black Hills are geographical landscapes used to attract tourists, but they are not the same. Geographic districts and geologic provinces distinguish them.

Badlands are barren landscapes where water and water have greatly destroyed the soft sedimentary rock.

The Black Hills are a small, deserted mountain range that emerges from North America in western South Dakota and extends into Wyoming, United States.

Key Takeaways

1. Badlands are areas characterized by extensive erosion, resulting in steep, rugged terrain, while Black Hills are small mountain ranges featuring forested slopes and granite outcrops.
2. Badlands lack vegetation due to the harsh environment, while Black Hills have diverse plant life, including ponderosa pine forests.
3. Both formations are located in South Dakota and are popular destinations for outdoor activities, with the Badlands offering unique geological formations and the Black Hills providing hiking, rock climbing, and wildlife viewing opportunities.

Badlands vs Black Hills

Badlands is a region in southwestern South Dakota canyons with a semi-humid climate and little greenery composed of sedimentary rocks tracing back 75 million years. The Black Hills is a region of thick black evergreen forests in southwestern South Dakota formed due to granitic and volcanic rocks tracing back 40 million years.

Comparison Table

Parameter of comparison	Badland	Black Hills
Age	It was formed up to 75 million years	It is dated back as far as 45 million years
Erosion rate	It occurs one inch per year	It corrodes at about one inch per 1000 years
Formation	Mainly originates from the deposition of erosion of sediment	Arises from volcanic activity, metamorphic disturbance
Minerals present	Minerals present are Chalcedony and Calcite	It includes quartz and feldspar
Colour	The colors alternate from dark black to bright clay and finally to red scoria	It does not alternate colors

What is Badland?

Badlands are a type of arid topography made up of rich clay soil that has been considerably eroded by water and wind. This can be caused by the destruction of vegetation by pollution, overgrazing, or acid mine drainage.

Badlands is characterized by high drainage density and minimal vegetation with steep slopes. It is very difficult to walk on foot and unfavourable for agricultural purposes.

Badlands are commonly found in every part of the continent except Antarctica because of their Ecological conditions.

They are similar to the desert but have a few variations, such as, instead of sandstone and yellow sand, it has red sand and terracotta.

Examples of Badlands created due to mining include the Roman gold mine of las medulas in northern Spain and the Cheltenham Badland in Ontario was produced by poor farming practices.

Previously, Badlands was formerly called Mesa Biome, an unusual biome of extreme terrain elevation. The terrain can range from flats and canyons to tall spires of terracotta.

They are characterized by the presence of thin to nonexistent regolith, and the colors alter from dark black to bright clay to red scoria.

There are five variations of Badlands: the Badlands plateau, Eroded Badlands, Modified Badlands plateau, Wooded Badlands plateau, and Modified wooden Badlands Plateau.

What is Black Hills?

The Black Hills are a small, deserted mountain range surging from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into northeastern Wyoming, USA.  It is called the island of trees in a sea of grass.

The Black Hills derived its name from a black image produced by thick pines covering the hill and were named by the Native Americans present at that time.

The Black Hills is an interpretation of the Lakota Paha Sapa, which means hills that are black and are also dwelling hold to the highest elevations of continental North America

It is the United States’ oldest mountain range, and the Hills cover a 125 miles long and 65 miles wide region.

The Black Hills are considered a holy ground because of their dark appearance

due to the presence of prairies.

Volcanic eruptions, Metamorphic disturbance, and disintegrated Granite are the features of the Black Hill, and it was also formed over 45 million years ago from the uplifting of granite rock.

Types of rock present include Shale, Sandstone, Granite, Slate, and Quartzite, while the ages of rock include Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, and Tertiary. It is rich in minerals such as quartz and feldspar.

Main Differences Between Badlands and Black Hills

1. Badlands are distinguished by bad weather, little water, and rugged terrain, while whirling hills and plentiful trees define the Black Hills.
2. Badlands is a type of dry terrain where sedimentary rocks and rich clay soil has been deteriorated by water and wind, while the Black Hills is an isolated peak range which is located in western Dakota and extends to Wyoming in the United States.
3. Badlands is caused by overgrazing, pollution, and acid mine drainage, whereas volcanic eruptions and eroded granite cause the Black Hills.
4. Types of rocks present in Badland are mudstones, clay stones, limestone, and volcanic ash meanwhile, the type of rocks present in the Black Hills are Shale, quartzite, granite, slate, and sandstone.
5. Badlands are commonly found in all continents apart from Antarctica, whereas Black Hills are found only in specific countries such as Canada, Spain, Argentina, Italy, and New Zealand and not on every continent.

References

1. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-015-8254-4_9
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128130544000095

Last Updated : 28 July, 2023