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.
Jianchuan County is located in the northwest of Yunnan Province and the north of Dali Prefecture. The county has a distance of 58 kilometers from east to west and 55 kilometers from north to south, with a total area of 2318 square kilometers, of which mountain areas account for 87.78 percent. With a total population of 174600 (2006), Bai, Han, Yi, Lisu, Hui, Naxi and other ethnic groups are the main Bai inhabited counties in the state. Jianchuan County has jurisdiction over 5 towns and 3 townships. There are 5 neighborhood committees and 88 administrative villages. The county government is in Jinhua town. The terrain is high in the northwest and low in the southeast. The main mountains are Laojun Mountain, Shibaoshan, Jinhua Mountain, Yanlu Mountain, Xueban Mountain and so on. Mineral deposits include copper, iron, lead, zinc, coal and salt rock. 214 National Highway, Dian (South) six (Ku) Highway, Ping (Slope) Dian (South) Highway across the county. Places of interest include Tang Daishi, a key cultural relic protection unit in the country.