Turns out that a local mountain (for suitably New England values of "mountain"), Mount Monadnock, is actually an archetype for an entire class of geological structures-- the "monadnocks," loosely defined as an isolated mound rising abruptly from a gradual slope. Slightly more technically, they are created when a structure composed of a hard rock (granite, for instance) is left exposed by the erosion of a softer, surrounding rock (e.g. limestone). This often produces a striking visual-- Devils Tower in Wyoming may be an extreme case of the process (some geologists are apparently arguing the matter).Well, actually the U.S. can't claim complete inspiration-- internationally, this structure is known as an "inselburg" (German for "island mountain"), but that term sometimes gets used for other structures, and somewhere along the line, geologists in the U.S. apparently decided that Mount Monadnock (located in scenic southwest New Hampshire) was a sufficiently sterling example of the specific class that all other such mountains should bear its name. Just goes to show the importance of keeping your definitions clear-- if you're not careful, some upstart American geologists might come along and kick your German jargon to the curb. Or whatever they call curbs in German.
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