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A potrero is a long
mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...
that at one end slopes upward to higher terrain. This
landform A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, m ...
commonly occurs on the flanks of a mountain, as part of a
dissected plateau A dissected plateau is a plateau area that has been severely eroded such that the relief is sharp. Such an area may be referred to as mountainous, but dissected plateaus are distinguishable from orogenic mountain belts by the lack of folding, me ...
. A loan word from the
Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the ...
, potrero is in current use in the
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, ...
, where it is sometimes translated as "tongue of land" and "enclosed piece of pasture land". In the Spanish language, however, the "tongue of land" sense is archaic. Also archaic is the related sense of potrero referring to someone who wrangles young
horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a Domestication, domesticated, odd-toed ungulate, one-toed, ungulate, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two Extant taxon, extant subspecies of wild horse, ''Equus fer ...
s (''potros'' in Spanish) kept as breeding stock (not saddle or pack stock). In Spanish, the usual sense of ''potrero'' now refers to any land (such as a ranch,
open range In the Western United States and Canada, open range is rangeland where cattle roam freely regardless of land ownership. Where there are "open range" laws, those wanting to keep animals off their property must erect a fence to keep animals out; th ...
, or community pasture) where such horses are kept. Notable examples of potreros include some of the many mesas of the
Pajarito Plateau The Pajarito Plateau is a volcanic plateau in north central New Mexico, United States. The plateau, part of the Jemez Mountains, is bounded on the west by the Sierra de los Valles, the range forming the east rim of the Valles Caldera, and on the ea ...
near
Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...
(
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
).These "finger mesas" were once a continuous deposit of compressed volcanic ash (the
Bandelier Tuff The Bandelier Tuff is a geologic formation exposed in and around the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 1.85 to 1.25 million years, corresponding to the Pleistocene epoch. The tuff was erupted in a series of at ...
). Water then cut the tuff into nearly equidistant canyons. When the ancient
Pueblos The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...
abandoned Chaco Canyon, some relocated to the Pajarito Plateau and carved grand dwellings directly into the soft tuff at the bases of the potreros. They also built atop the potreros and on the canyon floors.
Bandelier National Monument: History and Culture], National Park Service Some of these dwellings and the surrounding potreros are protected at Bandelier National Monument. Historically, these potreros were used as winter pasture for livestock (horses, sheep, and cattle) that were driven to and from lush summer pastures in the high grass valleys (''valles'') of the
Valles Caldera Valles Caldera (or Jemez Caldera) is a wide volcanic caldera in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Hot springs, streams, fumaroles, natural gas seeps and volcanic domes dot the caldera floor landscape. The highest point in the caldera ...
. Today, these potreros are used in this manner by a large herd of
elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The commo ...
. These ''potreros'' are natural enclosures, with only one principal exit: the narrow connection to higher land. In Spain a ''potrero'' is common land in poor condition.


References

Mesas Tables (landform) . Erosion landforms Spanish words and phrases {{topography-stub