Lyell Butte

Lyell Butte
Lyell Butte
	Lyell Butte, south aspect
Highest point
Elevation	5,362 ft (1,634 m)
Prominence	502 ft (153 m)
Parent peak	Newton Butte (5,940 ft)
Isolation	1.55 mi (2.49 km)
Coordinates	36°02′49″N 112°01′44″W / 36.0470086°N 112.0288279°W
Naming
Etymology	Charles Lyell
Geography
	Lyell Butte Location in Arizona Lyell Butte Lyell Butte (the United States)
Country	United States
State	Arizona
County	Coconino
Protected area	Grand Canyon National Park
Parent range	Coconino Plateau; Colorado Plateau
Topo map	USGS Phantom Ranch
Geology
Rock type	sandstone, limestone, shale
Climbing
First ascent	1970
Easiest route	class 4 climbing

Lyell Butte is a 5,362-foot (1,634 m) elevation summit located in the Grand Canyon, in Coconino County of northern Arizona, United States.^[2] It is situated six miles (9.7 km) east of Grand Canyon Village, immediately east of and below Shoshone Point, and 1.5 mile southeast of Newton Butte, which is the nearest higher neighbor. Topographic relief is significant as Lyell Butte rises 2,800 feet (850 m) above the Colorado River in 1.5 mile (2.4 km). Access is via the Tonto Trail which traverses the base of the peak. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Lyell Butte is located in a cold semi-arid climate zone, with precipitation runoff draining northeast to the Colorado River via Grapevine and Boulder Creeks.^[3]

History

Lyell Butte was named in 1906 after Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875), eminent Scottish geologist best known as the author of Principles of Geology.^[4] This feature's name was officially adopted in 1906 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.^[2] The first ascent of Lyell Butte was made January 24, 1970, by Alan Doty via the northwest face/chimney.^[5]^[6]

Lyell Butte is composed of Mississippian Redwall Limestone, with a dome of the basal layer of Pennsylvanian-Permian Supai Group on top which dips to the northeast.^[7] The cliff-forming Redwall overlays the Cambrian Tonto Group, and below that Paleoproterozoic Vishnu Basement Rocks at river level in Granite Gorge.^[8]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Lyell Butte – 5,362' AZ". Lists of John. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Lyell Butte". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
^ Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11. ISSN 1027-5606.
^ Randy Moore and Kara Felicia Witt, The Grand Canyon: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture, 2018, ABC-CLIO Publisher, p. 159.
^ Harvey Butchart, Grand Canyon Treks 12,000 Miles Through the Grand Canyon, 1998, Spotted Dog Press, p. 131.
^ Aaron Tomasi, Grand Canyon Summits Select An Obscure Compilation of Sixty-nine Remote Ascent Routes in the Grand Canyon National Park Backcountry, 2001, ISBN 9780971088009, p. 47.
^ N.H. Darton, Story of the Grand Canyon of Arizona, 1917, pp. 12, 62.
^ William Kenneth Hamblin, Anatomy of the Grand Canyon: Panoramas of the Canyon's Geology, 2008, Grand Canyon Association Publisher, ISBN 9781934656013.