Palisades State Park, South Dakota

Palisades State Park is located where Split Rock Creek flows through a narrow canyon in Sioux Quartzite bedrock. This canyon was eroded as a meltwater spillway channel during the Ice Age, when local drainage was blocked and diverted by a glacier. The canyon has near-vertical walls and isolated rock columns formed in the pink quartzite. Image date 7/98; © J.S. Aber.

View upstream toward the northeast. Entrance to the park is on the right side of view.

View downstream toward the southwest. Canyon walls are visible, and a railroad runs along the west side of the park.

Vertical view above rock columns beside Split Rock Creek. Note people on top of some columns and on the path below the columns.

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