Elephant Butte is a

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 ...

Navajo County Navajo County () is a county in the northern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 106,717. The county seat is Holbrook. Navajo County comprises the Show Low, Arizona Micropolitan Statistical Area. N ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, United States.

Description

Elephant Butte is situated southeast of the

Monument Valley Monument Valley (, , meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, with the largest reaching above the valley floor. The most famous butte formations are located in northeas ...

visitor center on

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

land. Precipitation runoff from this butte's slopes drains into Gypsum Creek which is a tributary of the San Juan River.

Topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as the summit rises above the surrounding terrain in 0.25 mile (0.4 km). The nearest higher neighbor is Three Sisters, to the southwest. The landform's toponym has been officially adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, and the descriptive name refers to the resemblance of an elephant's profile viewed from a south perspective.

Geology

Elephant Butte is a

butte 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 table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...

composed of three principal strata. The bottom layer is slope-forming

Organ Rock Shale The Organ Rock Formation or Organ Rock Shale is a formation within the late Pennsylvanian to early Permian Cutler Group and is deposited across southeastern Utah, northwestern New Mexico, and northeastern Arizona. This formation notably outcrops ar ...

, the next stratum is cliff-forming

De Chelly Sandstone The Yeso Group is a group of geologic formations in New Mexico. It contains fossils characteristic of the Kungurian Age of the early Permian Period. Description The Yeso Group is lithologically complex, ranging from marine shelf carbonate ...

, and the upper layer is

Moenkopi Formation The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a Geological unit, group ...

. The rock ranges in age from

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), 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 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

at the bottom to

Early Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251.9 Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic Series, which ...

at the top. The buttes and mesas of Monument Valley are the result of the Organ Rock Shale being more easily eroded than the overlaying sandstone.

Climate

Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Elephant Butte. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

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 se ...

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.Climate Summary for Kayenta, Arizona
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Gallery

File:Monument Valley Elephant Butte.jpg, Northwest aspect File:North Window Viewpoint.jpg, Looking north through Monument Valley's North Window Viewpoint.
South aspect of Elephant Butte to the left. File:Elephant Butte in Monument Valley.jpg, East aspect File:Road to the Valley, Spearhead Mesa, Elephant Butte and Camel Butte (46733088621).jpg,

Spearhead Mesa Spearhead Mesa is a summit in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. Description Spearhead Mesa is situated southeast of the Monument Valley visitor center on Navajo Nation land. The nearest higher neighbor is the iconic East Mitten Butte, t ...

(left), Elephant Butte (center),

Camel Butte Camel Butte is a summit in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. Description Camel Butte is situated southeast of the Monument Valley visitor center on Navajo Nation land. Precipitation runoff from this butte's slopes drains into Gypsum Creek ...

(right) File:Monument Valley 4.JPG, Southwest aspect File:Merrick and Elephant Butte.jpg, Merrick Butte (left) and Elephant Butte (right) File:Elephant Butte.jpg, WSW aspect File:Monument Valley panorama (33447523091).jpg, Elephant Butte (right) viewed from John Ford Point File:North Window Overlook.jpg, Southeast aspect of Elephant Butte viewed from North Window Overlook File:West-southwest aspect Elephant Butte.jpg, West-southwest aspect Elephant Butte

References

External links