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.
Red Granite District is under the jurisdiction of Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, which was originally Zunyi City at the county level. Located between 27 °33 miles north latitude 27 °48 'north latitude and 106 °41 degrees east longitude 107 °33' east longitude, located in the north of Guizhou Province, leaning on Loushan in the north and facing Wujiang River in the south, it is located between Chongqing and the provincial capital Guiyang, 323 kilometers north of Chongqing and 147 kilometers south of Guiyang. It has jurisdiction over 12 towns and 8 streets. It is the political, economic, cultural center and transportation hub of Zunyi City. There are Han, Miao, Gelao, Tujia and other ethnic groups, with the Han nationality as the majority, with a total population of 700000 (2015) and a land area of 624 square kilometers. The District people's Government is stationed on Xinhua Road. In 2012, the gross domestic product of Red Granite District was 22.149 billion yuan. Among them: 932 million yuan for the primary industry and 66.0 yuan for the secondary industry