Mystery of the Badlands

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Mystery of the Badlands.
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• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
• reveals stories from the past

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How good were your science hypotheses for

• Why are there so many fossils in Southern inland
  California?

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• Lets take a virtual field trip back in time with
  help from our scientists

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What formed this landscape?
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Follow the Colorado River by connecting the stars
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The Colorado River emptied into the ocean in the
area between the stars for the last three million
years
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Can you see the red sandstone areas of the
Colorado Plateau between the stars?
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The Colorado Plateau was lifted up 6000 feet by
magma from below!
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Waterit follows a downhillpath!
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Today, you see these landforms throughout
Arizona and Utah.
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The Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon
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Its tributaries carved out Bryce Canyon
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Water carved these fairytale landscapes!
Hoodoos of goblin valley
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A powerful force
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The river dropped its sediments across a large
area that today we call
Photo by Jim Wark
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The Salton seaThe Imperial Valley
Photo by
Photo by Jim Wark
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And the Borrego badlands.
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Colored layers of sediment from the red, yellow
and orange sandstones of the Colorado Plateau...
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With a fossil history from the past 3 million
years!
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Preserved and protected by the Anza-Borrego
Desert State Park.
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These formations attract scientists from around
the world
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And what have they found?
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The fossils say that this was once a very
different place!
Artist John Francis
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It was warmer and wetter
Artist John Francis
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Giant tortoises lived here!
Artist John Francis
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Can you imagine the desert like this?
Artist John Francis
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It changed from a shallow inland sea 5 million
years ago
Artist John Francis
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To lakes and streams with patches of forests
and..
Artist John Francis
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large grassland savannahs. Then the climate
slowly became warmer and drier..
Artist John Francis
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until it became the desert we see today.
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But the fossils revealthe story of the past
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Yesterdays lakes and streams..Todays fossil
beds
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Science is for the curious Each new
discovery creates some new answers and many
new questions!
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• Murals of past scenes by John Francis
• Aerial photos donated
• by Jim Wark
• Curriculum development supported by Anza-Borrego
  Foundation and Institute and California State
  Parks
• Text and other photos by LuAnn Thompson