. Elementary physical geography;. e pla-teau region of western North America, nearly a mile and ahalf high, is bordered by the lofty Rocky and Sierra Nevadamountain ranges; the great Bolivian plateau is edged bythe highest summits of the Andes; and the highest plateauin the world, that of Tibet, is rimmed by some of the loftiestranges of the earth. Many mesas or table-lands are the result of unequalweathering. The top of the mesa is commonly a layer ofrock resting upon softer substance. The latter is pro-tected from the action of the elements by the harder mate-rial and, in time a table-land i
. Elementary physical geography;. e pla-teau region of western North America, nearly a mile and ahalf high, is bordered by the lofty Rocky and Sierra Nevadamountain ranges; the great Bolivian plateau is edged bythe highest summits of the Andes; and the highest plateauin the world, that of Tibet, is rimmed by some of the loftiestranges of the earth. Many mesas or table-lands are the result of unequalweathering. The top of the mesa is commonly a layer ofrock resting upon softer substance. The latter is pro-tected from the action of the elements by the harder mate-rial and, in time a table-land is formed. As a rule, suchtable-lands are the outlying or isolated remnants of pla-teaus. They are noticeable objects because of their flat Canon of Colorado River w o H - 1—1 O 3 > o Sti o C/3 go H W TJ ^ w d O ^ *i h| K fl H ^ >^ H O m r1 £ o Si ^ ^ O > B ^3 o§ TJ Q H H l> w% 2 o O 3 & ~ H O K^ W h &£ H W 1 ^ 5 O ^ * ^ > 1 ° 1. o ^S w a 0 rripane Ledge. Echo Cliffs 70 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY tops and the steep cliffs or escarpments thai form theirslopes. A high plateau sparsely covered with vegetation is much more readilydissected by streams than a grass-covered surface. The region throughwhich the middle course of the Colorado River flows is an the plateau has been cut to a depth ranging from three thousandto six thousand feet. Only a small part of the plateau has been re-moved, and large areas show as yet but little of dissection. In otherparts, however, such as the Land of Standing Rocks, denudationhas been considerable, and only the towers that are remnants of harderrocks remain. Distribution of Plateaus.—The highest plateaus arcin the great highlands that face the Pacific and IndianOceans. The lesser highlands that border the AtlanticOcean also contain plateaus. If the highlands border thesea, the plateaus may take the form of peninsulas; nameseveral examples on the map of Asia. Among the plateaus of the Asian Continen
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