Missouri Buttes

Missouri Buttes are located in Crook County in northeast Wyoming on the northwest flank of the Black Hills Uplift. The buttes are northwest (N60°W) of Devils Tower between the Little Missouri and the Belle Fourche rivers.The Missouri Buttes consist of four separate summits which arise from an eroded mesa platform, the Butte Divide, which has an elevation of. The butte peaks form a rough rectangle 0.5 x 0.65 mi. in size. The northwest butte is the highest with a summit at 5374ft. The northeast butte has an elevation of, the southwest butte has an elevation of and the southeast butte has an elevation of. A small lake, the Missouri Buttes Lake, lies west of the buttes.As with Devils Tower, the buttes are composed of igneous intrusive phonolite which exhibits columnar jointing. The rocks of the buttes have been interpreted to be part of a laccolith, a magmatic stock or volcano conduits that became exposed at the surface after overlying rocks eroded away.