Mesa

A mesa is an elevated area of land with a flat top and surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape (mesa = "table" in Spanish).

It is a characteristic landform of arid environments, particularly the south-western United States and is generally formed when land has been uplifted by tectonic activity and then exposed to wind erosion.

Mesas are capped with hard rock and have horizontal strata. In the process of erosion the hard rock acts as a flat protective cap preserving the regions between stream valleys or other places where erosion is especially active, in the form of, table-mountains or fortress-hills. Many examples are found in Spain, North and South Africa, the Bad Lands and Colorado regions of North America, in Arabia, India and Australia.

A mesa is similar to, but smaller than a plateau, and similar to, but larger than a butte.