📖 what
What is a mesa?
geologylandforms
Quick Answer
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped hill with steep sides, left behind after surrounding land has eroded away.
The Full Story
A mesa forms where a hard, erosion-resistant layer of rock caps softer layers below, protecting the top while the land around it wears away. Over millions of years this leaves a tableland standing high above the plain with cliffs on its sides. The word 'mesa' is Spanish for 'table', a name given by Spanish explorers in the American Southwest. As a mesa erodes further, it can shrink into a smaller butte and eventually a slender pinnacle or spire. Monument Valley on the Arizona–Utah border is famous for its mesas and buttes.
Key Facts
1.'Mesa' means 'table' in Spanish
2.A mesa is wider than it is tall; a butte is taller than it is wide
3.Monument Valley is a classic mesa and butte landscape
YouTube Angle
Suggested video title for this topic:
"How deserts carve giant stone tables"