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.
Beilin area is the only municipal district in Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, which is located in the middle of Heilongjiang Province, between 126 °25mm east longitude and 47 °09' north latitude. It is adjacent to Suileng County and Hailun City in the north, Qingan County in the east, Bayan County and Hulan District in Harbin to the south, Lanxi County in the southwest, and Hulan River and Nuomin River in the west to Wangkui County. It covers an area of 2743 square kilometers with a total population of 880000 (2010). In 2013, the gross domestic product of the North Forest region reached 8.3 billion yuan, an increase of 13.5% over the same period in 2012. Investment in fixed assets reached 6.46 billion yuan, an increase of 30% over the same period in 2012. The fiscal revenue was 740.08 million yuan, of which the public budget revenue reached 421.11 million yuan.