<p>There are a couple of possibilities, depending on what you're paying the most attention to.  This falls in an overlap area of terms that vary from region to region and even from person to person. </p>

<p>The key thing to notice in your photo is the whitish band running along the top of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escarpment" rel="nofollow noreferrer">escarpment</a> that borders your landform.  This shows that it's held up by a resistant, mostly horizontal, layer of sedimentary rock.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.vitrolles13.fr/habiter/cadre-de-vie/le-plateau/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This French page</a> refers to it as a <strong><em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuesta" rel="nofollow noreferrer">cuesta</a></em></strong>; this is plausible, but the strata underlying cuestas usually slope more than what appears in your picture.  </p>

<p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Cuesta_schematic1.PNG/800px-Cuesta_schematic1.PNG" alt="cuesta image from Wikipedia"></p>

<p><em>(generalized cuesta image from Wikipedia)</em></p>

<p>"Plateau" is also plausible, but this is not very specific. The landform in your picture doesn't have quite the extent of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Plateau" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Colorado Plateau</a>. </p>

<p><strong><em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_(landform)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tableland</a></em></strong> or <em>table</em> is probably the most generic name for the entire regional structure under the rock layer. </p>

<p>If you are talking about the remnant under the pin in your image (and especially if this were in America),  then we'd have no trouble calling it a <strong><em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">mesa</a></em></strong> or even a  <strong><em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte" rel="nofollow noreferrer">butte</a></em></strong>. </p>

<p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Over_Monument_Valley%2C_Navajo_Nation.jpg/320px-Over_Monument_Valley%2C_Navajo_Nation.jpg" alt="mesa"></p>

<p><em>(Wikipedia image of a mesa in Monument Valley)</em></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-19T13:16:57.680Z
@Universal_Learner "cuesta" is an elementary term taught to first-year undergraduates...
Spencer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-19T15:45:36.237Z
@Universal_Learner Used in the US.  Since a lot of places in the Southwest US have Spanish-derived names, type names like 'cuesta' and 'mesa'  (playa, arroyo, etc...) were adopted the into the technical lexicon.
Spencer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-19T23:49:11.183Z
A. Excellent answer +1. B. Cuesta is a term I learned in my undergraduate geology studies in the Middle East.
Gimelist
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-18T23:36:17.297Z
2019-07-19T13:25:05.277Z
2019-07-19T13:25:05.277Z
Spencer
<p>There is a similar and bigger chalk plateau at <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Font+d&#39;Urle+station/@44.8777217,5.2912641,7319m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x478aa0dc262716ad:0x57983349345a9225!8m2!3d44.908138!4d5.333895" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"plateau d'urle" in France</a>.</p>

<p>That one looks like a "chalk plateau of continental shelf origin with straight channels eroded into the underlying clays", by it's flatness and proximity to the sea. The geologists write that the chalk is a <a href="https://www.geoforum.fr/topic/31803-stratotypes-rognacien-vitrollien/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">freshwater lake chalk deposit</a> due to it's fossils.</p>

<p>The sediments are layed down by different processes with different chemistries... Very tough pure chalk, softer chalk and silt deposits vary in bands, corresponding to underwater currents and rivers that vary over time. </p>

<p>The top layers erode away leaving a very tough protective chalk. The water flow at Vitrolles has stayed shallow, so that it has not tunneled deep under the chalk cap, it has burrowed straight channels just under and through it. </p>

<p>top layer (freshwater lake chalk) 60 million years... red stripes: Calcaires de Vitrolles (Montien-Tertiaire)</p>

<p>lower layer (clay and sandstone) 65-70 million years  ... beige no stripes: Argiles et grès à lentilles calcaires (Rognacien-Secondaire) </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/NoVpN.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/NoVpN.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-19T15:20:52.073Z
2019-07-19T15:59:38.820Z
2019-07-19T15:59:38.820Z
bandybabboon
<p>If the flat land formed as a river terrace, we could call it a raised terrace. </p>

<p>If the flat land is a resistant layer of rock, then we could call it a low plateau. (the thin layer of white rock immediately below the land surface might suggest this is the correct interpretation.) </p>

<p>If it formed by erosion in the past, it could be a peneplain. </p>

<p>The correct word depends on the origin of the feature. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-18T09:20:18.627Z
2019-07-18T09:20:18.627Z
queste
<p>Your marker seems to indicate an escarpment, which is a long ridge where a cliff or a steep slope separates low ground from higher ground. These slopes or cliffs can have a number of different causes, but as I have never visited the one in your photo I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to what caused this particular one.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-18T10:11:40.177Z
2019-07-18T10:11:40.177Z
Michael Walsby
<p>What is this geomorphological form located at <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/MxwM9omfvnHxAwPT6" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vitrolles, France</a>?</p>

<p>And how is it formed? It is like a 'raised flat land', or a base of a hill where the top 80% is cut, leaving only the wide, flat base.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/GlCZO.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/GlCZO.jpg" alt=""></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-19T19:52:25.367Z
HI, are you asking about the separate chunk under the pin, or the whole plateau that extends east off the right edge of the photo?
Spencer
<geography><geomorphology>
What is this geomorphological form?
tkokasih
# What is this geomorphological form?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-07-18)

What is this geomorphological form located at [Vitrolles, France](https://goo.gl/maps/MxwM9omfvnHxAwPT6)?

And how is it formed? It is like a 'raised flat land', or a base of a hill where the top 80% is cut, leaving only the wide, flat base.

[![](https://i.sstatic.net/GlCZO.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/GlCZO.jpg)

**Tags:** geography, geomorphology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: HI, are you asking about the separate chunk under the pin, or the whole plateau that extends east off the right edge of the photo?  

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-07-18. Score: 4

There are a couple of possibilities, depending on what you're paying the most attention to. This falls in an overlap area of terms that vary from region to region and even from person to person.

The key thing to notice in your photo is the whitish band running along the top of the [escarpment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escarpment) that borders your landform. This shows that it's held up by a resistant, mostly horizontal, layer of sedimentary rock.

[This French page](https://www.vitrolles13.fr/habiter/cadre-de-vie/le-plateau/) refers to it as a ***[cuesta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuesta)***; this is plausible, but the strata underlying cuestas usually slope more than what appears in your picture.

![cuesta image from Wikipedia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Cuesta_schematic1.PNG/800px-Cuesta_schematic1.PNG)

*(generalized cuesta image from Wikipedia)*

"Plateau" is also plausible, but this is not very specific. The landform in your picture doesn't have quite the extent of the [Colorado Plateau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Plateau).

***[Tableland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_(landform))*** or *table* is probably the most generic name for the entire regional structure under the rock layer.

If you are talking about the remnant under the pin in your image (and especially if this were in America), then we'd have no trouble calling it a ***[mesa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa)*** or even a ***[butte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte)***.

![mesa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Over_Monument_Valley%2C_Navajo_Nation.jpg/320px-Over_Monument_Valley%2C_Navajo_Nation.jpg)

*(Wikipedia image of a mesa in Monument Valley)*

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: @Universal_Learner "cuesta" is an elementary term taught to first-year undergraduates...  
> **username_1**: @Universal_Learner Used in the US.  Since a lot of places in the Southwest US have Spanish-derived names, type names like 'cuesta' and 'mesa'  (playa, arroyo, etc...) were adopted the into the technical lexicon.  
> **username_2**: A. Excellent answer +1. B. Cuesta is a term I learned in my undergraduate geology studies in the Middle East.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-07-19. Score: 4

There is a similar and bigger chalk plateau at ["plateau d'urle" in France](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Font+d'Urle+station/@44.8777217,5.2912641,7319m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x478aa0dc262716ad:0x57983349345a9225!8m2!3d44.908138!4d5.333895).

That one looks like a "chalk plateau of continental shelf origin with straight channels eroded into the underlying clays", by it's flatness and proximity to the sea. The geologists write that the chalk is a [freshwater lake chalk deposit](https://www.geoforum.fr/topic/31803-stratotypes-rognacien-vitrollien/) due to it's fossils.

The sediments are layed down by different processes with different chemistries... Very tough pure chalk, softer chalk and silt deposits vary in bands, corresponding to underwater currents and rivers that vary over time.

The top layers erode away leaving a very tough protective chalk. The water flow at Vitrolles has stayed shallow, so that it has not tunneled deep under the chalk cap, it has burrowed straight channels just under and through it.

top layer (freshwater lake chalk) 60 million years... red stripes: Calcaires de Vitrolles (Montien-Tertiaire)

lower layer (clay and sandstone) 65-70 million years ... beige no stripes: Argiles et grès à lentilles calcaires (Rognacien-Secondaire)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/NoVpN.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/NoVpN.jpg)


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2019-07-18. Score: 3

If the flat land formed as a river terrace, we could call it a raised terrace.

If the flat land is a resistant layer of rock, then we could call it a low plateau. (the thin layer of white rock immediately below the land surface might suggest this is the correct interpretation.)

If it formed by erosion in the past, it could be a peneplain.

The correct word depends on the origin of the feature.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2019-07-18. Score: 2

Your marker seems to indicate an escarpment, which is a long ridge where a cliff or a steep slope separates low ground from higher ground. These slopes or cliffs can have a number of different causes, but as I have never visited the one in your photo I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to what caused this particular one.


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