Short Stuff: Mesas: Flat

Josh and Chuck dive into the fascinating geology behind mesas, buttes, and plateaus—those iconic flat-topped landforms that dot the American Southwest. What started as Josh's curiosity about the landscapes he spotted on a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, turns into a deep exploration of how millions of years of water erosion transform massive plateaus into smaller, increasingly dramatic geological features. You'll learn why these formations have Spanish and French names, what makes a mesa different from a butte, and how the intense desert storms that shaped these landscapes work in ways completely different from what we experience back east.