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table mountain
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table mountain

geology

Learn about this topic in these articles:

formation by volcanism

  • Mount St. Helens volcano
    In volcano: Determinants of size and shape

    …vents that erupt repeatedly form table mountains. Table mountain volcanoes have steep sides of pillow lavas—sacklike structures that form when flows of basaltic lava are extruded into the ocean, a deep lake, or a water-filled cavern within ice. These pillow structures are capped by several tens of metres of broken…

    Read More
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mesa
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mesa
mesa Mesas in Gloss Mountain State Park, western Oklahoma.

mesa

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mesa, (Spanish: “table”), flat-topped tableland with one or more steep sides, common in the Colorado Plateau regions of the United States; a butte is similar but smaller. Both are formed by erosion; during denudation, or downcutting and stripping, areas of harder rock in a plateau act as flat protective caps for portions of underlying land situated between such places as stream valleys, where erosion is especially active. This results in a table mountain (mesa) or fortress hill (butte; q.v.).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
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