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MESA - 10 reference results

mesa [Span.,=table], name given in the SW United States to a small, isolated tableland or a flat-topped hill. Two or more of the sides are steep and usually perpendicular and some have all four sides practically perpendicular. Their bold lines make them a picturesque part of the landscape, and they are frequently deep red or yellow in color. Mesas originate from the erosion of plateaus that were capped by hard rock, usually in arid regions. Cliffs form, retreating as the soft layers beneath the cap rock are eroded. As the soft rock wears away, the upper cliff breaks along cracks and eventually produces a mesa. A butte is the last stage of the sequence, before the feature's complete consumption by erosion. The strata, or layers of rock, in a mesa are horizontal, or nearly so. The many "table mountains" are mesas. Two celebrated mesas are the Mesa Verde in Colorado and the Enchanted Mesa (Mesa Encantada) in New Mexico.

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Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde National Park, 52,122 acres (21,109 hectares), SW Colorado; est. 1906. It includes the most notable and best-preserved cliff dwellings (see cliff dwellers) and relics in the United States, covering four archaeological periods. There are museums and a library. Canyons of the Ancients National Monument is to the west. See National Parks and Monuments (table).

See D. A. Smith, Mesa Verde National Park (1988).

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Mesa

Mesa, city (1990 pop. 288,091), Maricopa co., S central Ariz., in the irrigated Salt River valley; inc. 1883. Electronic components, fabricated metals, aircraft, and machine tools are among its various manufactures. One of the fastest-growing U.S. cities, Mesa's population has more than doubled since 1980. Tourism is important, and the citrus and farm products of the area are packed and processed in Mesa. The Mormons who founded the city in 1878 used old Native American irrigation canals for farming in the Salt River valley. In Mesa are the Mesa Art Center, a Mormon temple, and the chief agricultural experiment farm of the Univ. of Arizona. The Chicago Cubs baseball team also has a spring training camp there.

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La Mesa

La Mesa, city (1990 pop. 52,931), San Diego co., S Calif., a suburb of San Diego; inc. 1912. It is a retail center and a popular residence for upper- and middle-income professionals in the San Diego area. There is light manufacturing. Points of interest include the McKinney House, the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum, and nearby Mt. Helix, with its impressive view of the surrounding region.

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Enchanted Mesa

Enchanted Mesa, sandstone butte, 430 ft (131 m) high, central N.Mex., near the pueblo of Acoma; called Mesa Encantada in Spanish and Katzimo or Kadzima by the Native Americans. According to Acoma tribal tradition, the mesa was the home of their people until a severe storm destroyed the only approach.

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Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa, city (1990 pop. 96,357), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific south of Santa Ana; inc. 1953. It is a transportation, residential, and light industrial center. In addition to research laboratories, huge corporate complexes and shopping malls like the South Coast Plaza have been built since the 1980s, and the city has two concert halls, one (2006) designed by César Pelli. Vanguard Univ. of Southern California is in Costa Mesa.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

mesa

(Spanish: “table”) Flat-topped tableland with one or more steep sides, common in the Colorado Plateau regions of the U.S.; a butte is similar but smaller. Both are formed by erosion; during denudation, or downcutting and stripping, areas of harder rock in a plateau act as flat protective caps for portions of underlying land situated between such places as stream valleys, where erosion is especially active. This results in a table mountain (mesa) or fortress hill.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Mesa Verde National Park

National park, southwestern Colorado, U.S. It was established in 1906 to preserve prehistoric Indian cliff dwellings. Occupying a high tableland area of 52,085 acres (21,078 hectares), it contains hundreds of pueblo ruins up to 13 centuries old. The most striking are multistoried apartments built under overhanging cliffs. Cliff Palace, the largest, was excavated in 1909 and contains hundreds of rooms, including kivas, the circular ceremonial chambers of the Pueblo Indians.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Mesa

City (pop., 2000: 396,375), south-central Arizona, U.S., located near Phoenix. It was settled in 1878 by Mormons who used ancient Hohokam Indian canals for irrigation (see Hohokam culture); it was incorporated as a town in 1883 and as a city in 1930. A Salt River reclamation project enabled the community to grow fruit and raise other crops. The city grew rapidly through industrialization after World War II. It is the site of Mesa Community College and Mesa Southwest Museum.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.