Geography Atlas

Where Everything Happened
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Landforms

Mesa

Plateaus and Highlands

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

An isolated, flat-topped hill or small plateau with steep, often cliff-like sides, capped by a layer of erosion-resistant rock that protects the softer rock beneath it from wearing away as fast as the surrounding land. Continued erosion narrows a mesa over time until it becomes a butte, the same landform at a smaller scale.

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.