Chaistla Butte is a 6,098-foot (1,859 m) elevation

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

located south of

Monument Valley Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona ...

, in

Navajo County Navajo County is in the northern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 106,717. The county seat is Holbrook, Arizona, Holbrook. Navajo County comprises the Show Low, Arizona, Sho ...

of northeast

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

. It is situated northeast of the community of

Kayenta Kayenta ( nv, ) is a U.S. town which is part of the Navajo Nation and is in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. Established November 13, 1986, the Kayenta Township is the only "township" existing under the laws of the Navajo Nation, making it ...

, on

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American Indian reservation, reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwe ...

land, and can be seen from Highway 163. It is one of the

eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged m ...

s, or

diatreme A diatreme, sometimes known as a maar-diatreme volcano, is a volcanic pipe formed by a gaseous explosion. When magma rises up through a crack in Earth's crust and makes contact with a shallow body of groundwater, rapid expansion of heated water ...

s, of the Navajo Volcanic Field, which is a

volcanic field A volcanic field is an area of Earth's crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters of up to 100 volcanoes ...

that includes intrusions and flows of minette and other unusual igneous rocks which formed around 30 million years ago during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

.Steven C. Semken, ''The Navajo Volcanic Field'', in ''Volcanology in New Mexico'', New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 18, p. 79, 2001. Chaistla Butte rises 400 feet (122 meters) above the Little Capitan Valley, and the 1,000 by 700 foot base pokes up from the

Chinle Formation The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. In ...

. Its neighbors include

Agathla Peak Agathla Peak or Agathlan ( nv, Aghaałą́, es, link=no, El Capitan) is a peak south of Monument Valley, Arizona, which rises over 1500 feet (457 meters) above the surrounding terrain. It is north of Kayenta and is visible from U.S. Route 16 ...

and

Owl Rock Owl Rock is a 6,547-foot (1,996 m) elevation sandstone summit located south of Monument Valley, in northeast Arizona. It is situated north of Kayenta, Arizona, Kayenta on Navajo Nation land, and can be seen from U.S. Route 163, Highway 163 perch ...

, three miles (4.8 km) to the north-northwest. 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 into the

Laguña Creek Laguña Creek also formerly also known as Tyende Creek, is a stream in the Navajo and Apache Counties of Arizona. Laguña Creek has its source at , at the confluence of Long Canyon and Dowozhiebito Canyon at an elevation of at the head of Tsegi ...

drainage basin. The ''chaistla'' name, which means "beaver pocket" or "beaver corner" in the

Navajo language Navajo or Navaho (; Navajo: or ) is a Southern Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabaskan language of the Na-Dene languages, Na-Dené family, through which it is related to languages spoken across the western areas of North America. Navajo is s ...

, was officially adopted in 1915 by the

U.S. 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 govern ...

. Navajo teachings have its name meaning "to support the sky's underside", such that if this butte were to fall, the world would end. It is also known as Turkey Butte.Sandy Nestor, ''Indian Placenames in America'', 2015, McFarland and Company Publishers, page 22.

Gallery

File:Chaistla Butte.jpg, Chaistla Butte, aka Turkey Butte, (turkey's head to left) File:Chaistla Butte in Arizona.jpg File:Chaistla Butte pano.jpg File:Chaistla Butte AZ.jpg File:Agathla and Chaistla.jpg, Agathla Peak (left) and Chaistla Butte (right) seen from the southwest along Highway 163 File:Chaistla Butte NW.jpg, Northwest aspect

Climate

Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Chaistla Butte. 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, nota ...

system, it is located in a

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- ...

zone with cold winters and hot summers. Summers average 54 days above annually, and highs rarely exceed . Summer nights are comfortably cool, and temperatures drop quickly after sunset. Winters are cold, but daytime highs are usually above freezing. Winter temperatures below are uncommon, though possible. This desert climate receives less than of annual rainfall, and snowfall is generally light during the winter.

References

{{reflist

External links

* Weather forecast
Chaistla Butte
* Aerial video
Gettyimages.com

Chaistla Butte pronunciation
Colorado Plateau Landforms of Navajo County, Arizona Geography of the Navajo Nation Oligocene volcanism Diatremes of Arizona Volcanic plugs of Arizona Geography of Navajo County, Arizona Rock formations of Arizona North American 1000 m summits

Gallery

Climate

See also

References

External links