About 72 million years ago, this region had a warm-temperate/subtropical climate and was covered by rivers, swamps and forested flood plains where dinosaurs roamed and were eventually transformed into fossils. In the years since then, erosion by water, wind and ice-age glaciers has created these "badlands", so-called because they're difficult to traverse on foot or horseback. The whiteish layers of rock were sands deposited by rivers, the greyish-brown layers were mud and silt, and the black layers (coal) were swamp plants. This photo was taken on the Badlands Interpretive Trail near the Royal Tyrrell Museum, a large family-friendly facility with outstanding displays of fossilized dinosaurs.

www.tyrrellmuseum.com