The formation of buttes occurs on a geological timescale. This can be from millions to hundreds of millions years.
It takes about as long as a water cycle
triangle
Ordinary ground water? A few days can see the algae form.
There are many types of fossilization. Some take a surprisingly few number of years, and others occur over periods of millions of years.
10 years
The U has the long U sound (YOO or long OO), as in cute and mute.
7 and 1/2 to 8 hours
if you take 90 from butte up to missoula its roughly 120 miles
Google Maps estimates the driving time as 20 hours and 19 minutes.
Butte
The word butte rhymes with cute and mute. It has a long U (long YOO) vowel sound.(*some guides consider the long OO and long YOO separate sounds, but only the Y consonant sound is different, as in cute, which has an OO version coot)
The distance is nearly an exact 600 miles. With no snow, the trip may take 10 hours with a few stops for breaks and gas.
Some in the American Southwest are: Fajada Butte, Hopi Butte, and Mitten Butte.
butte inmates
The address of the Butte Historical Society is: Po Box 3913, Butte, MT 59701
Lava Butte formed from an ancient volcanic eruption around 7,000 years ago. The eruption sent lava flowing downhill from a vent, creating a cone-shaped structure known as a cinder cone. Over time, the lava cooled and solidified to form the butte that we see today.
A lava butte is generally basaltic lava. Granitic lava flows (called rhyolitic when they form at the surface) are rare and do not cover much ground.