Elephant Butte is a summit that is now in the

Elephant Butte Reservoir Elephant Butte Reservoir is a reservoir on the southern part of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico, north of Truth or Consequences. The reservoir is the 84th largest man-made lake in the United States and the largest in New Mexico by ...

and within the Elephant Butte Lake State Park in

Sierra County, New Mexico Sierra County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 11,576. Its county seat is Truth or Consequences. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of ...

. It has an elevation of . It was named for its shape, which is said to look like an

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

. Originally a tall

butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

along the east bank of the Rio Grande, Elephant Butte became an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in Elephant Butte Reservoir upon the completion of the Elephant Butte Dam. The recent lowering of the level of the reservoir has made it a peninsula. A nearly-complete 3-million-year-old stegomastodon fossil was discovered at Elephant Butte by campers on June 9, 2014.New_Mexico_bachelor_party_finds_3-million-year-old_stegomastodon
_fossil,_Fox_News,_June_13,_2014.html" ;"title="stegomastodon">New Mexico bachelor party finds 3-million-year-old stegomastodon
fossil, Fox News, June 13, 2014">stegomastodon">New Mexico bachelor party finds 3-million-year-old stegomastodon
fossil, Fox News, June 13, 2014from foxnews.com, accessed December 27, 2016

References

External links

Mountains of New Mexico Landforms of Sierra County, New Mexico Mountains of Sierra County, New Mexico {{US-mountain-stub