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South Dakota Physical Map

South Dakota’s Black Hills are an isolated mountain range surrounded by plains — the easternmost mountains in the western US.

Rendered from SRTM 30m elevation data + Natural Earth rivers/lakes + US Census state boundary. Four versions below, all free.

Highest Point

Black Elk Peak

7,242 ft

Lowest Point

Big Stone Lake

966 ft

South Dakota physical map showing the Black Hills, the Badlands, and the Missouri Plateau, with major peaks and cities labeled. Topographic relief from NASA SRTM elevation data.

Choose your version

Two maps, two versions of each.

The same South Dakota terrain as a classroom map and as wall art. All four are free PDFs.

South Dakota physical map, labeled: the Black Hills, the Badlands, and the Missouri Plateau, with the capital, cities and highest point marked
Labeled
South Dakota blank physical map: the same terrain with no labels, for labeling practice
Blank
Physical map

South Dakota physical map for the classroom

Elevation in color with shaded relief, plus the surrounding states and water for context. The labeled version marks the capital, major cities and the highest point. The blank version leaves them off so students can label the map themselves.

downloadLabeled PDFdownloadBlank PDF
South Dakota relief wall art on a dark background
Dark
South Dakota relief wall art on a light background
Light
Wall art

South Dakota relief wall art

South Dakota on its own, with strong shaded relief and no labels. The dark version has the most contrast. The light version uses far less ink on a home printer.

downloadDark PDFdownloadLight PDF

The physical geography of South Dakota

The Missouri River splits South Dakota into two different halves. East of the river the land was smoothed by glaciers into rolling prairie, with a broad ridge of high ground in the northeast. West of the river are drier plains, buttes and canyons. The Badlands lie in the southwest. Beyond them the Black Hills rise from the plains, a separate mountain group that includes Black Elk Peak, the highest point.

Major rivers

  • Missouri
  • James
  • Cheyenne
  • Big Sioux
  • White
  • Grand

Find it on the map

  • The Black Hills as an island of mountains in the west
  • The reservoirs along the Missouri River
  • The smoother land east of the river
verified

Built from real data, not stock images.

Every South Dakota physical map on this page was rendered from NASA SRTM 30-meter elevation data, with hydrography from Natural Earth and the shoreline-clipped state outline from the US Census Bureau. Each map is colored over that state’s own elevation range, and the relief shading is exaggerated so gentle terrain still shows.

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Pair with

map

South Dakota political map

The blank outline version of South Dakota (state borders, no terrain). Useful for political-geography exercises.

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More State Maps

States that border South Dakota

Physical maps of the 6 states that share a border with South Dakota.

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