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.
Binchuan County is one of the counties under the jurisdiction of Dali Prefecture in Yunnan Province. it is located on the edge of the Yunling Hengduan Mountains and the southwest of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau on the south bank of the Jinsha River. Most of the main mountains, dams and rivers in the territory run from north to south. The terrain is high from east to west and low in the middle. There are four river systems: Naxi River, Pingchuan River, Qingshui River and Duobeiqing River. The Naxi River is the largest, running through the central dam area of Binchuan, and the Liandong River is the largest tributary. By the end of 2010, the total population of Binchuan County was 351940. Binchuan is a multi-ethnic county dominated by the Han nationality, which is inhabited by 25 ethnic groups. There are Jizu Mountain, a national AAAA-level scenic spot. On September 29, 2018, Binchuan County was approved to withdraw from the poverty-stricken county after being studied by the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee and the Yunnan Provincial Government. December 13, 2018, selected as the dominant area of agricultural products with Chinese characteristics