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L42 Badlands. Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA
Position:
N37° 38'
W113° 08' approx.
Elevation:
8000' / 2450m approx.
Image format:
35mm
BADLANDS
BADLANDS is a term that describes arid, poorly vegetated areas
where soft rock and SOIL is easily ERODED by running water. The
soil has few plants with root systems to bind it together because
there is little available ground moisture to support plant life.
When RAIN falls, in CONTINENTAL INTERIOR areas, it is often in
the form of heavy, THUNDER STORMS caused by CONVECTION processes
in the atmosphere. Heavy rain falling on a thinly vegetated surface
formed from loose soil and rock particles is bad news. Extreme
SOIL EROSION can take place in a very short time. Even solid rock
may be scoured and fragments carried away. The rocks in the BRYCE
CANYON NATIONAL PARK area of Utah, USA have been so badly eroded
that the area is now a major TOURIST ATTRACTION! These are very
good badlands to look at but heartbreaking if you were having
to farm them. The most distinctive features are called HOODOOS
- pillars of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion.
Less detail
Image Trail:
L25 Gullied Butte - badlands. Grand Mesa, Grand Junction. Colorado,
USA
L34 Gullied Butte - badlands. Factory Butte, Hanksville. Utah, USA
L43 Badlands. Bryce Canyon National Park. Utah, USA
Links:
http://www2.nature.nps.gov/grd/parks/brca/
http://www.nps.gov/badl/
http://geography.com.sg/weathering/index.html
http://geography.com.sg/rivers/index.html
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