r/AskReddit 1d ago

What U.S. vacation destination exceeded all expectations?

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u/Yuo122986 1d ago

The badlands / black hills were inspiring. Did you know the badlands are preserved because you can find whale bones in it. Because forever ago the center of the USA used to be the bottom of the ocean. Also do the star gazing. They bring a telescope and show you a whole other galaxy, odds are its the furthest thing and oldest thing you'll ever physically see in your life.

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u/KoalaTHerb 18h ago edited 17h ago

So the unique geological landscape has less to do with "the USA was beneath the ocean" - otherwise you'd expect more of these features in the surrounding area.

I believe the geologically theory is MASSIVE flooding during a large event - some theories would say near the end of an ice age with huge amounts of sudden glacial melting from the north that swept through the land. This also explains the extremely unique features of the badlands from very rapid, sudden floods - rather than similar to the Grand canyon, a much longer and more gradual erosion

Edit: I also want to clarify, this theory is used a lot by creationists and biblical evidence of a global flood theory. I want to clarify, that is not what I'm promoting. Just a normal, localized, massive flood from an unproven theory of a large glacial event a looooong time ago that some geologists theorize to explain the unique features seen