Badlands National Park, South Dakota, United States Jul 22, 2025

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, United States

As the sun sets over Badlands National Park, the landscape transforms into a stunning display of colour. The national park, located in southwestern South Dakota, United States, features a dramatic terrain of eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires carved by millennia of wind and water. Spanning over 950 square kilometres, the park is divided into three main units: the North Unit, home to the visitor centre and scenic Badlands Loop Road; and the Stronghold and Palmer Creek units. The park"s dramatic terrain is the result of sedimentary rock layers eroding at a rate of about two centimetres per year, revealing colourful bands of volcanic ash, silt and clay. These formations are not only visually striking but also rich in fossils, including remains from the Oligocene Epoch (about 33.9 to 23 million years ago), such as ancient horses, camels and sabre-toothed cats.

© Petr Bednarik/Danita Delimont/Alamy Stock Photo

palette

Today in History

Want to hang about?
An island made from a vow

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct 22, 2024Palazzo Zuccari, Rome
Jan 3, 2026J.R.R. Tolkien Day
Apr 8, 2025Paro Tsechu Festival, Bhutan
Sep 25, 2025Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan
Bungle beehives
The rivers run through us
May 31, 2024Gunnerside, Yorkshire Dales National Park, England
Aug 2, 2024Virgin Islands National Park, Saint John, United States
Feb 22, 2025Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, United States
May 2, 2025Striated heron on a Victoria water lily, Pantanal, Brazil
Feb 20, 2026Horsetail Fall in Yosemite National Park, California, United States
Little Island, Big Sea
Sep 26, 2024Blue-throated toucanet, Los Quetzales National Park, Costa Rica
Jan 7, 2025Moeraki Boulders, South Island, New Zealand
Jul 18, 2024Coral Reef Awareness Week
Mar 21, 2026International Day of Forests
A day for the worlds Indigenous populations
Oct 3, 2023Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Islands, Australia
Aug 3, 2025Blooming sunflowers
A puzzle for giants
Oct 13, 2025Fishing boat on beach in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu
Aug 20, 2023Start Point Lighthouse, South Devon, England
Dec 5, 2023Castles in the Bavarian Alps
Jan 23, 2024Maldives
Sep 5, 2023Mount Segla, Senja Island, Norway
Sep 28, 2025Town of Pienza in Tuscany, Italy
Jul 22, 2025Badlands National Park, South Dakota, United States
An iridescent view
Feb 27, 2024Polar bear cubs
Nov 11, 2025Externsteine in the Teutoburg Forest, Germany