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.
Fuyun County is located in the northeast of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, the southern foot of Altay Mountain, the northern margin of Junggar Basin; Qinghe County to the east, Fuhai County to the west, Junggar Basin to the south adjacent to Changji Prefecture, and Mongolia to the north. The border is about 205km long, 413km from north to south, 180km wide from east to west, and the administrative area is 33200 square kilometers. As of 2012, Fuyun County has jurisdiction over 71 administrative villages in 6 townships and 3 towns. In 2012, the total population of Fuyun County was 95200, composed of Han, Kazak and other 26 ethnic groups, of which the Kazak population was 69200, accounting for 72.69% of the total population, and the Han population was 20800, accounting for 22.85% of the total population. Fuyun County has a suitable climate and four distinct seasons. Because the county seat is in the river valley, it is summer.