Temple Butte

Temple Butte is a prominent landform in the eastern Grand Canyon, standing on the west bank of the Colorado River near the mouth of the Little Colorado River. Rising 5,308 feet, it is an eroded remnant of Esplanade Sandstone in the Supai Group, with a distinctive shape marked by a broad pyramidal north end, a sharper southern summit, and a saddle between them. Lower layers include Redwall and Muav limestones above Bright Angel Shale and Tapeats Sandstone, and the Butte Fault runs along its west side. The butte is also linked to the 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision, when smoke seen there first suggested a lightning fire before the disaster was recognized.

Arizona · United States