Badlands Guardian

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Badlands Guardian
Geomorphological feature
Area around Badlands Guardian.png
Badlands Guardian in 1938, before the creation of the road that resembles the earphones
Alberta County Point Locator.svg
Red pog.svg
Coordinates: 50°00′38.20″N110°06′48.32″W / 50.0106111°N 110.1134222°W / 50.0106111; -110.1134222
LocationNear Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Formed byErosion
Dimensions
  Length255m
  Width225m

The Badlands Guardian is a geomorphological feature located near Medicine Hat in the southeast corner of Alberta, Canada. The feature was discovered in 2005 by Lynn Hickox through use of Google Earth. [1]

Contents

Description

Viewed from the air, the feature has been said to resemble a human head wearing a full Indigenous type of headdress, facing directly westward. An additional road (Township Road 123A) and an oil well have been said to resemble a pair of earphones worn by the figure, [2] [3] which were installed in the early 2000s [4] and are expected to disappear once the oil well is abandoned. [5]

The head is a drainage feature created through erosion of soft, clay-rich stratum by the action of wind and water. [2] [6] The arid badlands are typified by infrequent but intense rain-showers, sparse vegetation and soft sediments. Although the image appears to be a convex feature, it is actually concave – and therefore, a valley, [7] [8] and is an instance of the Hollow-Face illusion. Its age is estimated to be in the hundreds of years at a minimum. [5]

In 2006, suitable names were canvassed by CBC Radio One program As It Happens . Out of more than 140 names submitted, seven were suggested to the Cypress County Council. They altered the suggested "Guardian of the Badlands" to become "Badlands Guardian". [6]

The Badlands Guardian was also described by the Sydney Morning Herald as a "net sensation". [2] PCWorld magazine has referred to the formation as a "geological marvel". [9] It is listed as the seventh of the top ten Google Earth finds by Time magazine. [8]

See also

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References

  1. Danielle, Nerman (Sep 22, 2016). "Atlas Obscura names Alberta's 'Badlands Guardian' curious, hidden wonder". CBC News.
  2. 1 2 3 Sydney Morning Herald Article by Stephen Hutcheon: "Gran's canyon is a net sensation" November 13, 2006
  3. Randall Stross (23 September 2008). Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know . Free Press. pp.  142. ISBN   978-1-4165-8047-8 . Retrieved 6 September 2013. The Badlands Guardian, for example, a natural geologic formation near Alberta, Canada, was often visited by online aviators. It resembles a human head, wearing Native American headdress—and also appears to be naturally adorned with ...
  4. "Google Timelapse". earthengine.google.com. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  5. 1 2 "The Badlands Guardian". Canada.com. April 5, 2007. Archived from the original on March 28, 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Alberta's Aztec Rocker?". CBC.ca . Archived from the original on Jan 16, 2009.
  7. As It Happens 3D rendering by CBC Radio [ dead link ]
  8. 1 2 Fletcher, Dan. "Top 10 Google Earth Finds: A Face in the Clay". Time .
  9. Spring, Tom (Jul 9, 2007). "In Pictures: The Strangest Sights in Google Earth". PC World. Archived from the original on Apr 22, 2012.

50°00′38.20″N110°06′48.32″W / 50.0106111°N 110.1134222°W / 50.0106111; -110.1134222 (Badlands Guardian)