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- In your opinion, would this be a butte or a mesa? Travel down the road to the east a little ways? would this change your opinion? why?
- Look to the North there is a white spire or stone ? Do you think that would qualify as a butte or a mesa? why?
- Back to the SW and the hill in question. Can you tell the dirference in the caprock that has let it form and the other rock?
- Do you think the sides are significanltly softer or harder than the caprock?
To the SW of here you will see a small hill steep on the sides. There is a difference in the name. If you look at ol topo maps it is called. Johnson Store Butte, and on newer google maps it is Old Paria Mesa. What is it?
Whatever you call them they are normally formed the same. Erosion peels the larger forms Plateus to mesas to buttes, it does not always happen in this order, but normally that is the case. The simple defitition of a butte is an isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top (similar to but narrower than a mesa) . Other may say it has to be smaller on top than it is on the side.
In older times mesas had different definitions. Could you hunt on top? was there water on top? if so it was a mesa. It would still have the sharp sides to get on top, but it had to have some size to it.
Usually there is a hard rock on the top that prevents the butte/mesa from eroding. It will normally be harder than the rock on the sides. That is what prevents it from eroding away. If the sides are very soft it will be straight, or will start to undercut to cap rock. making it easier for it to collapse. In wyoming there is another famous butte, Devils Tower. In simple terms it is a laval flow or volcatic plug that is left over when the hills eroded around it. So there are other types of buttes out there
On Mars
These features have also been found by the curiosity rover on Mars. In particular the Murray Buttes. The belief is that these remained because the wind had a hard time not eroding the top layer and not dealing with water erosion.
