Middle 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 topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

located in

Bingham County Bingham County is a county in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 47,992. The county seat and largest city is Blackfoot. Bingham County comprises the Blackfoot, ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, wh ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, United States.

Description

Middle Butte is situated 40 miles east of Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, 35 miles west of the community of Idaho Falls, and can be seen from

Highway 20 Route 20, or Highway 20, may refer to: International * European route E20 Australia * Sturt Highway (NSW/VIC/SA) * Yarra Bank Highway Brazil * BR-020 Canada * Alberta Highway 20 * British Columbia Highway 20 * Manitoba Highway 20 *New B ...

midway between Idaho Falls and

Arco ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...

at milepost 271. Middle Butte, so named because it is positioned between

Big Southern Butte Big Southern Butte is the largest and youngest (300,000 years old) of three rhyolitic domes formed over a million years near the center of the Eastern Snake River Plain in the U.S. state of Idaho. It is one of the largest volcanic domes on earth ...

and

line parent A peak's line parent is the closest higher peak on the highest ridge leading away from the peak's "key col". A col is the lowest point on the ridge between two summits and is roughly synonymous with pass, gap, saddle and notch. The highest col of ...

East Butte, were all landmarks for early explorers and pioneers. Middle Butte is set on land belonging to the

Idaho National Laboratory Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy and is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. While the laboratory does other research, historically it has been involved with nu ...

. Topographic relief is modest as the summit rises over above the Eastern

Snake River Plain image:Snake River view near Twin Falls, Idaho.jpg, The Snake River cutting through the plain leaves many canyons and Canyon#List of gorges, gorges, such as this one near Twin Falls, Idaho The Snake River Plain is a geology, geologic feature ...

in one-half mile. This landform's toponym has been officially adopted by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

Geology

Middle Butte is a

cryptodome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on ...

composed of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

which formed when an underlying mass of rhyolitic magma pushed up overlying layers of basalt of the Snake River Plain, but the magma never broke the surface.''The Land Volcanoes Made: the Buttes of the Snake River Plain from Idaho Falls to Arco, Idaho'', railsback.org
/ref> This manner of formation is different than that of East Butte where rhyolitic magma did break through the surface layer of basalt.

Climate

Middle Butte is located in a

cold 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 semi-ar ...

zone with warm summers and cold winters ( Köppen ''BSk''). Winter temperatures can drop below 0 °F with wind chill factors below −20 °F. Precipitation is relatively sparse.

Gallery

File:Middle Butte and East Butte.jpg, West aspect of Middle Butte centered with East Butte in the distance File:Middle Butte (5034699010).jpg, West slope File:Middle Butte (5034708076).jpg, Northwest slope File:Middle Butte (5034716116).jpg, North slope File:Middle Butte (5034090691).jpg, North slope with juniper above, and sagebrush in foreground File:East Butte (5035994699).jpg, Left to right: East Butte, Middle Butte, Big Southern Butte File:Middle Butte from East Butte.jpg, Middle Butte (center) and Big Southern Butte (upper left) rise above the Snake River Plain as seen from East Butte File:Middle Butte (5034667242).jpg, Northeast aspect File:Middle Butte (of Twin Buttes).jpg, Aerial view

References

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External links

* Middle Butte
weather forecast
* Three Buttes
Historical Marker Database
Mountains of Idaho Landforms of Bingham County, Idaho North American 1000 m summits Lava domes Volcanoes of Idaho