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A butte is an isolated hill
Hill

A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, in a limited area. Hills often have a distinct Summit , although in areas with Escarpment a hill may refer to a particular section of scarp slope without a well-defined summit ....
 with steep, often vertical sides and a small relatively flat top, smaller than mesa
Mesa

A mesa is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape....
s, plateau
Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plateau or tableland, is an area of highland , usually consisting of relatively flat terrain....
s, and table
Table (landform)

A table, in the sense of a landform, is a hill, flank of a mountain, or mountain, that has a flat top. This landform has numerous names in addition to table. These include:...
s. In some regions the word is simply used for any hill. The word "butte" comes from a French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 word meaning "small hill"; its use is prevalent in the western United States, including the southwest where "mesa" is also used.

One standard holds that a mesa has a surface area over , while a butte has a surface area less than 1,000 mē.






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Butte Pdphoto Roadtrip 24 Bg 021604
A butte is an isolated hill
Hill

A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, in a limited area. Hills often have a distinct Summit , although in areas with Escarpment a hill may refer to a particular section of scarp slope without a well-defined summit ....
 with steep, often vertical sides and a small relatively flat top, smaller than mesa
Mesa

A mesa is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape....
s, plateau
Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plateau or tableland, is an area of highland , usually consisting of relatively flat terrain....
s, and table
Table (landform)

A table, in the sense of a landform, is a hill, flank of a mountain, or mountain, that has a flat top. This landform has numerous names in addition to table. These include:...
s. In some regions the word is simply used for any hill. The word "butte" comes from a French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 word meaning "small hill"; its use is prevalent in the western United States, including the southwest where "mesa" is also used.

One standard holds that a mesa has a surface area over , while a butte has a surface area less than 1,000 mē. Geographers use the rule of thumb that a mesa has a top that is wider than its height, while a butte's top is narrower than its height.

Formation

Buttes are formed by erosion
Erosion

For morphological image processing operations, see Erosion 'For use of in dermatopathology, see Erosion Erosion is the removal of solids in the natural environment....
 when a cap of hard rock
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
, often of volcanic
Volcano

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or Crust , which allows hot, molten rock, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface....
 origin, called cap rock, covers a layer of softer rock that is easily worn away. The hard rock avoids erosion while the soft rock around it wears down. One example of a noted butte is Chimney Rock
Chimney Rock National Historic Site

Chimney Rock is a famous, prominent geological formation in Morrill County, Nebraska in western Nebraska. Rising nearly 300 feet above the surrounding North Platte River valley, the peak of Chimney Rock is 4,226 feet above sea level....
. Also, Crested Butte
Crested Butte

Crested Butte is a mountain peak of the Elk Mountains in the U.S. State of Colorado. It is also a town population aprox. 2000. The Greater area includes Crested Butte, Mt....
 in Colorado. On a much smaller scale, the same process forms hoodoo
Hoodoo (geology)

A hoodoo is a tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos are composed of soft sedimentary rock and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects the column from the elements....
s.

Image:BlackButteOR_Russell_ric00804.jpg|Black Butte
Black Butte (Oregon)

Black Butte is a cinder cone located in Deschutes National Forest, northwest of the town of Sisters, Oregon. An extinct volcano, it is composed of basaltic andesite....
, near Sisters, Oregon
Sisters, Oregon

Sisters is a city in Deschutes County, Oregon, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 959 at the 2000 United States Census....
 Image:Signal Mountain TX 1900.jpg|Signal Butte near Big Spring, Texas
Big Spring, Texas

Big Spring is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Texas, Texas, United States, at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20....

See also


  • Potrero
    Potrero (landform)

    In English, a potrero is a long mesa that at one end slopes upward to higher terrain. This landform commonly occurs on the flanks of a mountain, as part of a dissected plateau....
  • Tepui
    Tepui

    A Tepui is a table-top mountain found only in the Guayana Shield of South America, especially in Venezuela. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas who inhabit the La Gran Sabana....
  • Tuya
    Tuya

    A tuya is a type of distinctive, flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet. They are somewhat rare worldwide, being confined to regions which were formerly covered by continental ice sheets and also had active volcanism during the same time period....


External links

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