North American Warm Desert Badland

Geology

Shale and mudstones commonly provide parent material.

Landform

Rolling topography with some abrupt erosional scarps and gullies.

Soils

Clays, often forming clay hills in hot desert environments.

Parent Description

This system is sparsely vegetated to unvegetated on fine-textured soils where high rates of erosion, high temperatures and evaporation, and low precipitation preclude the development of significant vegetative cover. These sites are highly erosional and occupy rolling landscapes frequently cut by drainages.