# Butte

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Isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top

For other uses, see [Butte (disambiguation)](/source/Butte_(disambiguation)).

[The Mittens](/source/West_and_East_Mitten_Buttes) and [Merrick Butte](/source/Merrick_Butte) in [Monument Valley](/source/Monument_Valley), [Utah](/source/Utah)–[Arizona](/source/Arizona)

In [geomorphology](/source/Geomorphology), a **butte** ([/bjuːt/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English) [*BEWT*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key)) is an isolated [hill](/source/Hill) with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller [landforms](/source/Landform) than [mesas](/source/Mesa), [plateaus](/source/Plateau), and [tablelands](/source/Table_(landform)). The word *butte* comes from the [French](/source/French_language) word *[butte](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/butte#French)* (French: [\[byt\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/French)), meaning '[knoll](/source/Hillock)' (of any size); its use is prevalent in the [Western United States](/source/Western_United_States), including the [Southwest](/source/Southwestern_United_States), where **[mesa](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mesa#Spanish)** ([Spanish](/source/Spanish_language) for 'table') is used for the larger landform.

Due to their distinctive shapes, buttes are frequently landmarks in [plains](/source/Plain) and mountainous areas.[1] To differentiate the two landforms, geographers use the [rule of thumb](/source/Rule_of_thumb) that a mesa has a top that is wider than its height, while a butte has a top that is narrower than its height.[2][3]

## Formation

Buttes form by [weathering](/source/Weathering) and [erosion](/source/Erosion) when hard [caprock](/source/Caprock) overlies a layer of less resistant [rock](/source/Rock_(geology)) that is eventually worn away. The harder rock on top of the butte resists erosion. The caprock provides protection for the less resistant rock below from wind abrasion which leaves it standing isolated. As the top is further eroded by abrasion and weathering, the excess material that falls off adds to the [scree](/source/Scree) or talus slope around the base.[4] On a much smaller scale, the same process forms [hoodoos](/source/Hoodoo_(geology)).[5]

## Notable buttes

The [Mitten Buttes](/source/West_and_East_Mitten_Buttes) of [Monument Valley](/source/Monument_Valley) in the [Utah](/source/Utah)–[Arizona](/source/Arizona) state line are two of the most distinctive and widely recognized buttes. Monument Valley and the Mittens provided backgrounds in the scenes of many [western-themed](/source/Western_(genre)) [films](/source/Film), including seven movies directed by [John Ford](/source/John_Ford).[note 1] Another very well-known and frequently photographed butte in northern Arizona is [Thumb Butte](/source/Sierra_Prieta), which overlooks the city of [Prescott](/source/Prescott%2C_Arizona) and is the most prominent and distinctive geologic landmark in the vicinity. The [Devils Tower](/source/Devils_Tower) in northeastern [Wyoming](/source/Wyoming) is a [laccolithic](/source/Laccolith) butte composed of [igneous rock](/source/Igneous_rock) rather than [sandstone](/source/Sandstone), [limestone](/source/Limestone) or other [sedimentary rocks](/source/Sedimentary_rock).[6]

[Devils Tower](/source/Devils_Tower) in [Wyoming](/source/Wyoming)

The term *butte* is sometimes applied more broadly to isolated, steep-sided hills with pointed or craggy, rather than flat, tops.[1] Three notable formations that are either named *butte* or may be considered buttes even though they do not conform to the formal geographer's rule are [Scotts Bluff](/source/Scotts_Bluff_National_Monument) in [Nebraska](/source/Nebraska) which is a collection of five bluffs, [Crested Butte](/source/Crested_Butte), which is a 12,168 ft (3,709 m) mountain in [Colorado](/source/Colorado), and [Elephant Butte](/source/Elephant_Butte_(Sierra_County%2C_New_Mexico)), which is now an island in [Elephant Butte Reservoir](/source/Elephant_Butte_Reservoir) in [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico).

Among the well-known non-flat-topped buttes in the United States are [Bear Butte](/source/Bear_Butte), [South Dakota](/source/South_Dakota), [Black Butte](/source/Black_Butte_(Oregon)), [Oregon](/source/Oregon), and the [Sutter Buttes](/source/Sutter_Buttes) in [California](/source/California). In many cases, buttes have been given other names that do not use the word *butte*, for example, [Courthouse Rock](/source/Courthouse_Rock), Nebraska. Also, some large hills that are technically not buttes have names using the word, examples of which are [Kamiak Butte](/source/Kamiak_Butte), Chelan Butte and [Steptoe Butte](/source/Steptoe_Butte) in [Washington state](/source/Washington_(state)).

## Gallery

		- [Courthouse Butte](/source/Courthouse_Butte) near [Sedona, Arizona](/source/Sedona%2C_Arizona)

		- [Qaxaç Qalası](/source/Kachaghakaberd) or Kachaghakaberd fortress, [Khojali District](/source/Khojali_District), [Azerbaijan](/source/Azerbaijan)

		- [Pawnee Buttes](/source/Pawnee_Buttes), [Pawnee National Grassland](/source/Pawnee_National_Grassland), [Colorado](/source/Colorado)

		- [Tamanrasset Province](/source/Tamanrasset_Province), [Algeria](/source/Algeria)

		- [Monte Perda Liana](/source/Monte_Perda_Liana) in [Sardinia](/source/Sardinia), [Italy](/source/Italy).

## See also

- [Geography portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Geography)

- [Caprock Escarpment](/source/Caprock_Escarpment) – Geographical transition in Texas and New Mexico

- [Inliers and outliers (geology)](/source/Inliers_and_outliers_(geology)) – Area of older rock surrounded by younger rock

- [Megalith](/source/Megalith) – Large stone used to build a structure or monument

- [Monadnock](/source/Monadnock) – Isolated, steep rock hill on relatively flat terrain

- [Monolith](/source/Monolith) – Stone block made of one single piece; object made of one single rock piece

- [Potrero](/source/Potrero_(landform)) – Long mesa that at one end slopes upward to higher terrain

- [Table mountain (disambiguation)](/source/Table_mountain_(disambiguation))

- [Tepui](/source/Tepui) – Table-top mountain or mesa in the Guiana Highlands of South America

- [Tuya](/source/Tuya) – Flat-topped, steep-sided volcano

- [Volcanic plug](/source/Volcanic_plug) – Volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano

## Footnotes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-note1_6-0)** The John Ford westerns with location work shot in Monument Valley were *[Stagecoach](/source/Stagecoach_(1939_film))* (1939), *[My Darling Clementine](/source/My_Darling_Clementine)* (1946), *[Fort Apache](/source/Fort_Apache_(film))* (1948), *[She Wore a Yellow Ribbon](/source/She_Wore_a_Yellow_Ribbon)* (1949), *[The Searchers](/source/The_Searchers_(film))* (1956), *[Sergeant Rutledge](/source/Sergeant_Rutledge)* (1960), and *[Cheyenne Autumn](/source/Cheyenne_Autumn)* (1964).

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Jackson_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Jackson_1-1) Jackson, Julia A., ed. (1997). "butte". *Glossary of Geology* (4th ed.). [Alexandria, Virginia](/source/Alexandria%2C_Virginia): [American Geological Institute](/source/American_Geosciences_Institute). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0922152349](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0922152349).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Allaby, Michael (2013). "butte". *A dictionary of geology and earth sciences* (Fourth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780199653065](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780199653065).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Mesa and Butte"](http://www.scienceclarified.com/landforms/Faults-to-Mountains/Mesa-and-Butte.html). *Science Clarified*. 2008. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20131202230831/http://www.scienceclarified.com/landforms/Faults-to-Mountains/Mesa-and-Butte.html) from the original on 2 December 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Thornbury_4-0)** Thornbury, William D. (1969). *Principles of geomorphology* (2d ed.). New York: Wiley. p. 133. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0471861979](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0471861979).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Davis, George Herbert (1999). *Structural Geology of the Colorado Plateau Region of Southern Utah, with Special Emphasis on Deformation Bands*. G.S.A. Special Paper 342. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. p. [30](https://books.google.com/books?id=J3LPPrxrEaoC&pg=PA30). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8137-2342-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8137-2342-6).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Devils Tower National Monument – Geologic Formations"](https://home.nps.gov/deto/learn/nature/geologicformations.htm). National Park Service. 10 Mar 2014. Retrieved 13 Mar 2014.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Buttes](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Buttes).

Look up ***[butte](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search/butte)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

- ["Butte"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Collier%27s_New_Encyclopedia_(1921)/Butte). *[Collier's New Encyclopedia](/source/Collier's_Encyclopedia)*. 1921.

- ["Butte"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Butte). *[New International Encyclopedia](/source/New_International_Encyclopedia)*. 1905.

v t e Earth's landforms List of landforms Mountainous Butte Flat Hill Mountain range Plateau Ridge Saddle Tableland Valley Continental plain Ice sheet Plain Steppe Tundra Fluvial Alluvial fan Beach Canyon Cave Channel Cliff Floodplain Lake island Levee Meander Oasis Pond Rapids River delta mouth Strait Swamp Valley Waterfall Glacial Arête Cirque Esker Fjord Glacier Ice field Tunnel valley Oceanic and coastal landforms Atoll Bay Cape Channel Coast Continental shelf Coral reef Estuary Island Isthmus Lagoon Mid-ocean ridge Oceanic trench Peninsula Seamount Volcanic island Volcanic Caldera Geyser Guyot Lava dome Lava field Submarine volcano Volcanic crater Volcanic crater lake Volcanic dam Volcanic island Volcanic plateau Volcanic plug Volcano Wall rock Aeolian Desert Dry lake Dune Sandhill Tundra Artificial Artificial island Artificial reef Bridge Building Canal Dam Ditch Land reclamation Levee Polder Quarry Reservoir Road Tunnel See also: Geographical feature

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Butte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.