Near Fossil Exhibit Trail

View looking west from the Changing Scenes Overlook on the Badlands Loop Road. This view shows the core of the Badlands’ Pinnacles region across the valley of Conata Creek. The Pierre Shale and Fox Hills Formation are exposed along axis of the Sage Creek Anticline in the upper Conata Creek drainage basin in this area. The yellow beds, shown here beneath the snow (right and center) have historically been referred to as "Interior zone" and "Yellow Mounds," in the park area. They contain marine invertebrate fossils similar to those in the Fox Hills Formation in its type area near Trail City, South Dakota (Stoffer, 2003).