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.
Jinchuan District, under the jurisdiction of Jinchang City, is located at the eastern end of Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province, the north of Jinchang City, the northern foot of Longshou Mountain, and the southern edge of Alashan platform, between longitude 101 °3440 "- 102 °3426" east and latitude 38 °2130 "- 39 °000030" north. It is bordered by Minqin County in the north and east, Yongchang County in the south, Alashan right Banner in Inner Mongolia Autonomous region in the northwest and Shandan County in the west, with a total area of 3019.14 square kilometers. Jinchuan District has jurisdiction over 2 towns, 6 streets, 27 administrative villages, 16 urban communities and 27 rural communities, with a total population of 231900 (2014), including 208700 non-agricultural people and 27 ethnic groups. In 2012, the region achieved a gross domestic product (GDP) of 191.