A mogote is a generally isolated, steep-sided residual hill in the tropics composed of either limestone, marble, or dolomite. Mogotes are surrounded by nearly flat alluvial plains. The hills typically have a rounded, tower-like form.

Overview

This term is used for hills, isolated or linked, with very steep, almost vertical, walls, surrounded by alluvial plains in the tropics, regardless of whether the carbonate strata in which they have formed are folded or not. Mogotes are common in tropical and subtropical karst areas around the world, specifically in southern China, the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam; as well as the Caribbean, especially in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Los Haitises National Park in the Dominican Republic is another karst area that contains mogotes. The word mogote comes from the Basque word mokoti 'sharp-pointed' (from moko 'mountain peak'). In Puerto Rico, several mogotes along a ridge are called pepinos.

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