Black Mesa (Apache-Navajo Counties, Arizona)

Black Mesa (also called Big Mountain) is an upland mountainous mesa of Arizona, north-trending in Navajo County, west and southeast-trending in Apache County.

[1] It derives its dark appearance from its pinyon-juniper and mixed conifer woodlands.

[2] The mesa is located on the Colorado Plateau near Kayenta, Arizona, and rises to over 8,168 ft (2,490 m).

Its highest peak is located on Black Mesa's northern rim, a few miles south of the town of Kayenta.

Reliable springs surfacing at several locations mean the mesa is more suitable for continuous habitation than much of the surrounding desert area.

Satellite image of northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico, including the Four Corners Monument (FC). Some higher elevations have a dust of snow. Labeled natural features are the Chuska Mountains (CM), the Carrizo Mountains (C), Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park (MV), Black Mesa (B), Canyon de Chelly National Monument (CdC), and the Defiance Uplift-( Plateau ) (D). Labeled towns are Farmington, New Mexico (F), Gallup, New Mexico (G), Window Rock, Arizona (WR), and Kayenta, Arizona (K).
Black Mesa, west of Chilchinbito, Arizona .