Alsap Butte is a summit located in the
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
in
Coconino County
Coconino County is a county in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff. The county takes its name from ''Cohonino'', a name applied to the Havasupai p ...
of northern
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
,
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
.
It is situated two miles north of the Roosevelt Point on the canyon's North Rim, where it towers above Nankoweap Canyon. Its nearest higher neighbor is
Brady Peak, one mile to the southwest, with
Hancock Butte and
Mount Hayden set to the northwest, and
Colter Butte two miles to southeast.
Alsap Butte is named after
John T. Alsap
John Tabor Alsap (February 26 or 28, 1830Some sources list Alsap's year of birth as 1832. – September 10, 1886) was an American physician, lawyer, politician, and farmer active in the early days of Arizona Territory. Among his accomplishments ...
, a pioneer and politician of the
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona (also known as Arizona Territory) was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of ...
who served as the first mayor of
Phoenix, and is known as "Father of Maricopa County".
The geographical feature's name was officially adopted in 1932 by the
United States Board on Geographic Names
The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...
.
According to the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
system, Alsap Butte is located in a
cold semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
zone.
Alsap Butte is composed of
Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian may refer to:
* A person or thing from Pennsylvania
* Pennsylvanian (geology)
The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timesca ...
-
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
Supai Group
The Supai Group is a slope-forming section of red bed deposits found in the Colorado Plateau. The group was laid down during the Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian. Cliff-forming interbeds of sandstone are noticeable throughout the group. The Su ...
overlaying cliff-forming
Mississippian Redwall Limestone, which in turn overlays slope-forming
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...
Tonto Group
The Tonto Group is a name for an assemblage of related sedimentary strata, collectively known by geologists as a ''Group'', that comprises the basal sequence Paleozoic strata exposed in the sides of the Grand Canyon. As currently defined, the T ...
.
[William Kenneth Hamblin, ''Anatomy of the Grand Canyon: Panoramas of the Canyon's Geology'', 2008, Grand Canyon Association Publisher, ] Precipitation
runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
from this feature drains northeast into the
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
via Nankoweap Creek.
See also
*
Geology of the Grand Canyon area
The geology of the Grand Canyon area includes one of the most complete and studied sequences of rock (geology), rock on Earth. The nearly 40 major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand Canyon National Park area rang ...
References
External links
* Weather forecast
National Weather ServiceAlsap Butte photoby
Harvey Butchart
{{Geology of the Grand Canyon area, , state=collapsed
Grand Canyon, North Rim
Grand Canyon
Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona
Buttes of Arizona
North American 2000 m summits
Colorado Plateau
Grand Canyon National Park