La Playa Badlands and Their Earth Pillars

Abstract

A badland terrain cut in the landscape near the town of La Playa has been known since the Spanish conquest and has inspired many Colombian poets. It consists of earth pillars of unknown age cut in arkosic coarse-grained sand containing cobbles which may reach heights of 30 m. The sediments originate from weathered metamorphic rocks belonging to the Silgara Formation and igneous Jurassic rocks, which were eroded and deposited as a broad valley fill, making the Algodonal Formation. The present climate is probably too humid to permit such erosional landforms to develop, and the present badland development is probably arrested. It would be important to monitor the evolution of the “estoraques” in order to design the best management for their preservation. This Unique Natural Area is protected by the National Park Administration and it can be easily reached by car from the city of Ocaña, Norte de Santander.