(Spanish; table)
Flat-topped tableland with one or more steep sides, common in the Colorado Plateau regions of the U.S.; 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.