When you unfold a map of the United States, South Dakota is located slightly north in the center.

To the north is North Dakota, to the south is Nebraska, to the east are Minnesota and Iowa, and to the west are Wyoming and Montana. So, it is clear to anyone that it is close to the 'heart of America' and feels like it is right in the middle of the vast plains of the Midwest.

To the east, endless prairies stretch out, and as you go west, the terrain becomes increasingly rugged with the appearance of the Black Hills mountain range. In that sense, South Dakota has a very typical American landscape where rural areas, nature, mountains, and grasslands are mixed together.

On the surface, this state may seem like it consists only of ranches and cornfields, but there are quite interesting secrets hidden beneath the ground. This is related to the oil fields. The northwestern region of South Dakota is part of a massive geological structure called the 'Williston Basin.'

This layer of rock extends north into North Dakota and Montana, which are already famous for oil. However, the South Dakota side has not been developed for oil on a large scale. Still, some counties in the northwest are producing small amounts of oil, and geologists believe that the geological layers in this area may contain oil resources.

Looking at the geology of South Dakota, various structures such as sedimentary rock layers, shale layers, and limestone layers are stacked on top of each other.

In such places, it is highly likely that organic materials formed from ancient marine sediments have been trapped in old layers and transformed into oil. In particular, the layer known as the 'Red River Formation' is considered one of the most promising places for oil extraction.

In fact, some drilling has discovered small amounts of crude oil. Unfortunately, it is not at the level of extracting hundreds of thousands of barrels a day like in North Dakota, and it is still close to the exploration stage.

That said, South Dakota is not a state completely unrelated to energy. It has strong winds and many wide plains, making wind power generation active. Additionally, hydropower utilizing the water resources flowing along the Missouri River has also become an important energy source. In other words, the focus is shifting towards clean energy obtained from nature rather than oil.

So, when you look at South Dakota on a map, it feels like the center of America, revealing the 'skin of the earth' itself. On the surface, it seems like a calm prairie, but beneath it lie geological layers and traces of energy that have yet to be fully uncovered.

Farmers plant corn, the wind turns the wind turbines, and scientists are still looking into the ground to find new possibilities. Perhaps South Dakota could be called the most 'calm on the outside but full of potential on the inside' state in America.