badlands

Imaggeo On Monday: Patterns in the landform

Hazel Gibson June 29, 2020

Patterns in the landform. Credit: Basudev Biswal (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The badlands at the Zabriskie Point (Death Valley, California, USA) rest upon a mudstone foundation. In the prehistoric lakes of Death Valley, fine grained sediments were deposited to form soft rocks. The clay minerals in the mudstone are shaped like tiny plates, which helps create the layers. The combination of the almost impermeable mudstone and Death Valley’s low rainfall makes plant grow ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: How erosion creates natural clay walls

Olivia Trani October 8, 2018

Once there was a road...the clay wall. Credit: Chiara Arrighi (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The badlands valley of Civita di Bagnoregio is a hidden natural gem in the province of Viterbo, Italy, just 100 kilometres from Rome. Pictured here is the ‘wall,’ one of the valley’s most peculiar features, where you can even find the wooden structural remains of a trail used for agricultural purposes in the 19th and 20th centuries. The photograph was taken by Chiara Arrighi, a post-doc research a ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: The Valley of the Souls

Laura Roberts-Artal August 25, 2014

Simon Gascoin captured this image of the badlands of the Palca canyon. The Palca canyon is located near the city of La Paz, Bolivia. Like much of the geology in the vicinity of La Paz, the canyon comprises mainly unconsolidated glacial formations, which are highly susceptible to wind and water erosion. The imposing spires, which can reach up to 200m in height, are fluvioglacial deposits that resul ...[Read More]