# Menan Buttes > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Menan_Buttes > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Menan_Buttes.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menan_Buttes > Source revision: 1355783259 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Volcano in Idaho, United States}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Menan Buttes | image = North_Menan_Butte_Idaho.jpg | image_caption = North Menan Butte | map = Idaho | map_caption = Location in Idaho | elevation_ft = 5619 | elevation_ref = | prominence = | location = [Madison](/source/Madison_County%2C_Idaho) / [Jefferson](/source/Jefferson_County%2C_Idaho) counties, [Idaho](/source/Idaho), [United States](/source/United_States) | range = | coordinates = {{coord|43|47|04|N|111|58|23|W|type:mountain_region:US-ID|display=inline,title}} | topo = [http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/slaymaker/archives/geol10l/IDmenan.jpg] | type = [tuff cones](/source/Phreatomagmatic_eruption) | age = late [Pleistocene](/source/Pleistocene), approximately 10,000 YBP | volcanic_arc/belt = | last_eruption = | first_ascent = | easiest_route = | embedded = {{designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = NNL | designation1_date = 1980 }} }} The North and South '''Menan Buttes''' in southeastern [Idaho](/source/Idaho) are two of the world's largest volcanic [tuff](/source/tuff) cones. The two cones, with four smaller associated cones, align along a north-northwest line and comprise the '''Menan Complex'''. The buttes rise about 800 feet (250 m) above the surrounding [Snake River](/source/Snake_River) plain and are late [Pleistocene](/source/Pleistocene) in age, dating to approximately 10,000 YBP (Years [Before Present](/source/Before_Present)). The South Menan Butte is currently in private hands, however North Menan Butte is publicly owned and has been designated as a [National Natural Landmark](/source/National_Natural_Landmark) and a Research Natural Area by the [United States Congress](/source/United_States_Congress). The US [Bureau of Land Management](/source/Bureau_of_Land_Management) designated the North Butte as an [Area of Critical Environmental Concern](/source/Area_of_Critical_Environmental_Concern) (ACEC). The volcanoes forming the two major Menan Buttes were created when basaltic magma came into contact with a shallow [aquifer](/source/aquifer) or with the precursor of the modern Snake River. Particles of volcanic glass called [tachylite](/source/tachylite) were created as the water turned to steam and explosively fragmented the hot magma. The cone shaped deposits are fairly uniform and consist primarily of tuff in [lapilli](/source/lapilli)-size particles. Some deposit layers preserve indentations, designated as "bomb sags", made as larger [pyroclastic](/source/Pyroclastic_rock) particles landed on soft layers of tuff. The Menan Buttes stand at an elevation of 5,619 feet (1,713 m.) and are very similar in size and shape. North Menan Butte is slightly larger and elliptical, with axes 3.5 and 2.5 km in length. South Menan Butte measures 3 km x 2 km. The crater of the North Menan Butte is about 3,000 feet (900 m) in diameter and the cone is about 6,000 feet (1,800 m) in diameter. The North Butte's volume is 0.16 cubic miles (0.70 cubic km) and the South Butte measures at 0.07 cubic miles (0.30 cubic km). In comparison, the better known tuff cone [Diamond Head](/source/Diamond_Head%2C_Hawaii) on [Oahu](/source/Oahu) has a volume of 0.15 cubic miles (0.6 cubic km). The larger buttes in the Menan Complex are asymmetrical. Each has a greater accumulation of material on the northeast, presumably due to strong southwest winds during the initial eruption.Wood, Charles Arthur and Jürgen Kienle, ''Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-43811-X}}, 978-0-521-43811-7, p. 251 The Menan Buttes are located in [Madison County](/source/Madison_County%2C_Idaho), with lower slopes extending westward into [Jefferson County](/source/Jefferson_County%2C_Idaho). Nearby communities include [Menan](/source/Menan%2C_Idaho), [Rigby](/source/Rigby%2C_Idaho), [Rexburg](/source/Rexburg%2C_Idaho) and [Idaho Falls, Idaho](/source/Idaho_Falls%2C_Idaho). ==See also== * [Island Park Caldera](/source/Island_Park_Caldera) * [Phreatomagmatic eruption](/source/Phreatomagmatic_eruption) * [Yellowstone hotspot](/source/Yellowstone_hotspot) ==References== {{reflist}} ==Additional sources== * Creighton, D.N., 1987, Menan Buttes, southeastern Idaho, in Beus, S.S., ed., ''Centennial Field Guide Volume 2 Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America'', p. 109–111. * Greeley, R., 1977, 5. Aerial guide to the geology of the central and eastern Snake River Plain, in Greeley, R., and King, J.S., eds., ''Volcanism of the eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho: A comparative planetary geology guidebook'': NASA, Washington, D.C., p. 59–112. * Hackett, W.R., and Morgan, L.A., 1988, Explosive basaltic and rhyolitic volcanism of the eastern Snake River Plain, in Link, P.K., and Hackett, W.R., eds., ''Guidebook to the Geology of Central and Southern Idaho: Idaho Geological Survey Bulletin 27'', p. 283–301. * Hamilton, W., and Myers, W.B., 1963, ''Menan Buttes, cones of glassy basalt tuff in the Snake River Plain, Idaho'': U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper 450E, p. E114-E118. * Stearns, H.T., Crandall, L., and Steward, W.G., 1938, ''Geology and ground-water resources of the Snake River Plain in Southeastern Idaho'': U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 774, 268 p. ==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100601182341/http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/upper_snake/recreation_sites_/north_menan_butte.html North Menan Butte, A National Natural Landmark] - Bureau of Land Management * [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=35549 Satellite Image] {{authority control}} Category:Extinct volcanoes of the United States Category:Geology of Idaho Category:Landforms of Jefferson County, Idaho Category:Landforms of Madison County, Idaho Category:National Natural Landmarks in Idaho Category:Pleistocene volcanoes Category:Volcanoes of Idaho Category:Tuff cones Category:Bureau of Land Management areas in Idaho Category:Protected areas of Madison County, Idaho Category:Quaternary Idaho --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Menan Buttes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menan_Buttes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menan_Buttes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.