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.
Jiulong County is located in western Sichuan Province, southeast of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and southwest of Gongga Mountain. Jiulong County covers an area of 6770 square kilometers, has jurisdiction over 17 townships and one town, with a total population of 52000. In 2008, GDP reached 470 million yuan, local revenue was 98.73 million yuan, and the per capita income of farmers and herdsmen was 4963 yuan. Kowloon is located in the transitional zone between Panxi Plain and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, forming four major landforms: high mountains, extremely high mountains, mountains and river valleys, with high topography in the north and low in the south, great disparity in height, complex topography, abundant rainfall, sufficient sunshine, and a typical three-dimensional climate. There is a saying that "one mountain is divided into four seasons, ten miles is different from the sky". Kowloon is a county inhabited by 12 ethnic minorities, mainly Tibetan, Han and Yi, with Hui, Miao, Bai, Yao, Qiang, Tujia and other ethnic minorities.