buttes
Small flat plateaus
Buttes is the plural of butte, an isolated hill or small mountain with steep sides and a flat top, common in arid landscapes of the American West.
Buttes are smaller than mesas but share the same flat-topped profile carved by erosion: The highway wound between red sandstone buttes.
Many Western place names include the word: Crested Butte, Scotts Bluff.
Low natural elevation
- outcropSurfacing native stone
- sedimentaryFormed from deposited material
- erosionGradual wearing away
- flattoppedLevel on top
tableland · escarpment · bluff · knoll · ridge · promontory · elevation · uplift
Gradual wearing away
- weatheringAtmospheric breakdown of materials
- sedimentaryFormed from deposited material
- stratificationDivision into distinct levels
- caprockImpermeable geological cover layer
resistant · softer · layers · geological · formation · remnant · volcanic · igneous
hill
Low natural elevation
- outcropSurfacing native stone
- sedimentaryFormed from deposited material
- erosionGradual wearing away
flattopped · tableland · escarpment · bluff · knoll · ridge · promontory · elevation · uplift · sandstone
erosion
Gradual wearing away
- weatheringAtmospheric breakdown of materials
- sedimentaryFormed from deposited material
- stratificationDivision into distinct levels
caprock · resistant · softer · layers · geological · formation · remnant · volcanic · igneous · basalt
- Great PlainsGreat Plains, high plains, High Plains, grassland, grasslands
- Mesasmesas
- landformsmountain, cliff, valley, volcano, mountain ridge
- American SceneryGrand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains
- desert thingssand, cactus, cacti, camel, dune
- off-roadingoff-road, 4x4s, ATVs, 4WD, four-wheel drive