Visiting Badlands National Park is like taking a Science class This area of the vast American grassland was once an ancient seabed, and over time, has eroded away into intricate rocky formations of multicolored buttes, canyons and delicate spires. Even a glancing look at the eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires in the 244,000-acre park shows horizontal bands throughout the formation, each band with its own science story much like a time machine.The Badlands feature an alien landscape of ravines, ridges and colored rock layers. Badlands National Park in South Dakota is a must-see for National Park, fossil, and geology enthusiasts.