Image via WikipediaKadoka, from the Lakota word Hadoka meaning "hole in the wall", has been called the Gateway to the Badlands, and with good reason. Bridging a crest from the interstate, your eyes are suddenly dazzled by a landscape dominated by blazing white eroded buttes and spires.It can be a little disconcerting, but it's beautiful. Kadoka is the only place where the Badlands formations are all this color. Definitely a sight to see!
The Badlands formations are caused by the erosion of rocks from what is known as the White River Group. Millions of years ago, the Badlands were covered by a shallow inland sea that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico into North Dakota.
This inland sea caused the formation of mudstone, sandstone and limestone layers throughout the northern Great Plains over many eons. When the shallow inland sea retreated, these softer layers of rock (softer than the Pierre Shale they overlie) began to be eroded by the strong winds that still buffet the plains year-round. That erosion has led to the other-worldly look of the Badlands, a place that looks like few others on earth.
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