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.
Jinyang County is located in the southwest of Sichuan Province, facing Yongshan, Ludian and Qiaojia counties of Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province on the east and south, bordering Zhaojue and Leibo in the north, and Butuo on the west by the Xixi River. Jinyang County has a total area of 1587 square kilometers. Jinyang County has jurisdiction over 4 towns and 30 townships. At the end of 2011, the total population of Jinyang County was 185600, including 24600 urban residents and 3600 floating population. Of the total population, 95500 are males and 90100 are females. In 2010, the county's GDP was 850 million yuan. In September 2016, the State Council approved the addition of Jinyang County as a national key ecological functional area. September 25, 2018, won the honor of "2018 e-commerce into the rural comprehensive demonstration county" of the Ministry of Commerce.