Destination: Badlands!
Presented by the HPS 7th/8th Graders
Science in Real Life!
~Mrs. Dorn
Stop 1: Missouri River
by: Ben Olson
Lewis and Clark camped near the river when they traveled across the country looking for a waterway to bridge the Atlantic and the Pacific. They had a Native American guide named Sacagawea. She had a baby and Lewis and Clark took it back to the east coast to get it a formal education. Lewis and Clark did not find a waterway through the continental United States, obviously.
Stop 2: Badlands Overlook
by: Jesus Marcos-Lopez
The Badlands are losing one inch each year due to the erosion. In about 100,000-500,000 years the Badlands will be gone. When the Badlands erode all of the sediment flows into the White River below. We also talked about the White River valley and why it has white water. It is from the sediment that eroded off of the Badlands.
Stop 3: The Door/Window/Notch Trails of the Badlands
by: Austin Fuller
In this field trip we went on the badlands loop and we stopped at a place called the Door/Window/Notch trails and here we went on the trails and saw superposition and that is where you can see multiple kinds of layers in the rocks. Superposition also show the age of the rocks, from the bottom we can tell that those are the oldest layers. We saw a lot of lateral continuity and this is a thing where you can see the same layer in a hill and look at a different hill and see the same layer in the same spot.
This photo shows lateral continuity and superposition. In this photo you can see the different layers. You can also follow a layer and see it all across the different hill.
Stop 4: Ben Reifel Visitors' Center
by: Kaylee Johnson
At the Ben Reifel Visitor Center in the Badlands National Park we learned about some history of the Badlands. We found out that mammoth hunters left their mark here about 12,000 years ago and they were the first humans in this area. The Lakota people arrived in the Badlands in the mid-1700’s when they were pushed west by westward expansion.
In the park a lot of fossils have been found but none from dinosaurs because they didn't live here and a shallow sea used to cover what is now the Badlands. A fossil from a large reptilian swimmer, also known as a mosasaur was found here. Baculite and ammonite fossils are very commonly found in the park.
The Badlands have changed a lot and continue to do so. There is a lot of animals that don't live in the Badlands anymore that used to. Today there is more than 50 plant species and 100 animal species in the park. We even got to see some animals like antelope, mule deer, prairie dogs, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep. Every year the Badlands inch over and in the next 500,000 years they could be completely gone. The Badlands are interesting and there is a lot to learn about them.
Stop 5: Cliff Shelf Nature Trail
by: Alex Kanz
So when we went there we learned that humans used the land since 11,000 years and
the plants and animals there are 50 types of plants and 100 birds. There is a lot of vegetation because it retains moisture. There was a whole bunch of cedar trees and grass. When we were there we saw a mule deer eating from a bush. There is a lot of land that probably Indians used to hunt. There are a lot of mountains and there were a lot of off the path but Mrs. Dorn did not want us to go that path.
Stop 6: Fossil Trail
by: Jesade Siverson
At the Fossil Exhibit trail in the Badlands, we learned about what kinds of fossils are found in this area and what level the fossils are found. We also went climbing on some of the rocks which was very fun.
There are different layers of the Badlands. In the Sharps formation and Rockyford Ash formation, Oreodont fossils can be found there. Nimravids are found in the Brule and Chadron formation. Prehistoric alligators, horses, and titanotheres, which look similar to rhinos, are found in the Chadron formation. And you can find alligator fossils in the yellow mound formation, and ammonite fossils in the Pierre shale.