A mesa is an isolated, flat topped elevation bounded on all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above the surrounding plain. Mesas are built of flat lying, relatively soft sedimentary rock, such as shale, capped by a more resistant layer, such as sandstone or limestone, whose caprock protects the flat summit from the erosion that has worn away the surrounding land, and that caprock is sometimes itself a dissected lava flow or a hardened duricrust.
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Mesa (Wikipedia)
In Discipline: Geomorphology, Lead paragraph
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain
Caused By: Sedimentation, Lead section (caused-by Sedimentation)
Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a resistant layer of harder rock, like sandstone or limestone, forming a caprock that protects the flat summit.
In Group: Mesas, Cuestas and Tablelands, Lead sentence
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain.
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