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.
Cuoqin County is a county in the southeast of Ali region of Tibet Autonomous region, 1079 kilometers away from Lhasa. The geographical coordinates are 31 °00' in latitude 30 °51 in north and 85 °19 in longitude 85 °09 in east longitude. There are many lakes and abundant water sources in the territory. "Cuoqin" means "Great Lake" in Tibetan and gets its name from the Great Saline Lake, which is located more than 10 kilometers east of the county. With an average elevation of more than 4700 meters, it is one of the few high-altitude counties. The government is stationed in Mendong village, Cuoqin town. The territory covers an area of 22000 square kilometers with a total population of 13200 (2013). The second lane of the Singapore-Tibet Highway is passed. Cuoqin County is rich in animal product resources and is one of the pure animal husbandry counties in Tibet and Ali region. The permanent residents are all Tibetans and believe in the Bai religion in Tibetan missionaries, and a small number of them