• Mesa
  • Altay Prefecture

A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a more resistant layer or layers of harder rock, e.g. shales overlain by sandstones. The resistant layer acts as a caprock that forms the flat summit of a mesa. The caprock can consist of either sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and limestone; dissected lava flows; or a deeply eroded duricrust. Unlike plateau, whose usage does not imply horizontal layers of bedrock, e.g. Tibetan Plateau, the term mesa applies exclusively to the landforms built of flat-lying strata. Instead, flat-topped plateaus are specifically known as tablelands.

Altay region, one of the five regions of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, is under the jurisdiction of Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture and is based in Altay City. Located in the north of Xinjiang, bordering Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia; the landforms are complex and diverse, dry and hot in summer and cold in winter; the total area is 117989.21 square kilometers, under the jurisdiction of six counties and one city; the total population in 2017 is 671616. Altay region is the only area bordering Russia in northwest China, and it is an important node city of the Silk Road Economic Belt and Xinjiang participating in the construction of China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor; it has four national land ports; it is a relatively abundant water area in Xinjiang and is known as the "water tower" in northern Xinjiang; it is one of the six major forest areas in China, and it has been identified by the State Council as the ecological functional area of mountain grassland with water conservation. twenty
Travel Sights In Altay Prefecture
Travel Notes In Altay Prefecture
Twenty thousand miles north and south of Tianshan Mountains (1)
From July 6th to 28th, eight friends from four families were invited to drive two cars, driving more than 11,500 kilometers, and completed a trip acro
Car rental self-driving tour in Xinjiang (16 days)
20220628 (D1 day) flight to Urumqi, Xinjiang, overnight stay at Vienna Hotel on Beijing Road, Urumqi. 20220629 (D2 day) 9:00 am depart for Altay regio
Xinjiang, a place to travel alone to cure my depression (Great geography in northern Xinjiang, humanities in southern Xinjiang) 11 days
I have fantasized about going to Xinjiang many times, because it is so beautiful, and then this little dream was finally no match for the persecution
Keketuohai, the second largest cold pole in China, becomes a fairy tale in autumn
The early autumn of Keketuohai is dreamy and colorful. Walking in the depths of the birch forest, the Irtysh River shone with a sapphire-like deep lus