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Hills, plateaus, plains, and mountains all form part of the state's landscape. The state is divided into three major physiographic regions, or areas where the lay of the land is similar. These are the Central Lowlands of eastern South Dakota, the Great Plains of western South Dakota, and the Black Hills.

The South Dakota Sunshine Law is a series of laws designed to guarantee that public has access to public records of governmental bodies. Public records are defined as all records kept by public bodies in South Dakota, no matter the physical form.

The structure of the government of South Dakota is based on that of the federal government, with three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. The structure of the state government is laid out in the Constitution of South Dakota, the highest law in the state.

Eastern South Dakota lies within the glaciated physiographic region known as the Prairie Plains. Western South Dakota, except for the Black Hills, near the southwestern corner, is part of the Great Plains and is characterized by high buttes, canyons, and wide expanses of nearly level tablelands.

The geology of South Dakota began to form more than 2.5 billion years ago in the Archean eon of the Precambrian. Igneous crystalline basement rock continued to emplace through the Proterozoic, interspersed with sediments and volcanic materials.

The Great Plains cover most of the western two-thirds of South Dakota. West of the Missouri River the landscape becomes more rugged and consists of rolling hills, plains, ravines, and steep flat-topped hills called buttes. These buttes sometimes rise 400 to 600 feet (120 to 180 m) above the plains.