badlands

Badlands are semiarid regions with sparse vegetation that experience high rates of erosion. Water and wind, instead of carving gentle hills and broad valleys, sculpt soft sedimentary rock into intricate mazes of narrow ravines, v-shaped gullies, knife-sharp ridges, buttes, and colorful pinnacles. (SOUTH DAKOTA BADLANDS)

Both badlands and gullies appear to have developed since European settlement and to be part of the same hydrological system with extensive areas of bare ground (badlands) feeding water to incising gullies. (ScienceDirect)

n the Badlands, soils can consist of sandstone, shale, and lignite. All soils have been modified by erosion (i.e. wind, water, and ice). (University of Idaho)