Mystery of the Badlands.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.. hills filled with fossils of strange extinct creatures

YOU BE THE SCIENTISTWhy are there so many fossils in Southern inland California?

We need to put together a puzzle from the past

What formed this landscape?

The Colorado River .. Can you follow its course by connecting the stars?

The Colorado River emptied into the ocean in the area between the stars for the last three million years

The area between the stars is part of the Colorado Plateau.

A huge dome of magma from below lifted the Colorado Plateau 6000 feet above sea level!

The last three million years experienced many cold ice ages and warming thawing time periods

Today, you see these landforms throughout Arizona and Utah.

If you look closer at the landscapes along the Colorado River you see this..

And.. along a major tributary

What is creating these landforms?

The Colorado River spreads out into a delta where it meets the seaPhoto by Jim Wark

These are todays southern inland California landforms

Photo by Photo by Jim Wark

So what do you think created these badlands?

Where did these colored layers of sediment come from?

How can we tell the story of 3 million years of life from these hills?

Why do people want to study the history of life on earth?

These formations attract scientists from around the world

And what have they found?

An artist worked with paleontologists and geologists to create these murals of the past. Artist John Francis

Why was it so different only 10,000 years ago?Artist John Francis

Artist John Francis

Do you see plants or animals that might still live in desert environments?

Artist John Francis

From 6 million years ago to..

Artist John Francis

to most of the last three million years

to the desert we see today.

What happened? Can you solve the mystery?

Science is for the curious Each new discovery creates some new answers and many new questions!

Murals of past scenes by John FrancisAerial photos donated by Jim WarkCurriculum development supported by Anza-Borrego Foundation and Institute and California State Parks Text and other photos by LuAnn Thompson