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.
Jixi County, which belongs to Xuancheng City, Anhui Province, is located in the south of Anhui Province, one of the six counties of Huizhou, one of the birthplaces of Huizhou culture, known as "the hometown of Huizhou chefs", "no town without emblem, no street without achievements", now under the jurisdiction of Xuancheng City. Jixi is located in the mountainous area of southern Anhui, located in the combination zone of Huangshan Mountains and West Tianmu Mountains, the Yangtze River system and Qiantang River system watershed, Linan City to the east, Ningguo City and Jingde County to the north, Jingde County to the west, Huangshan District of Huangshan City and Shexian County to the west, and Shexian County to the south; between latitude 29 °57 °30 °20 north and longitude 118 °20 °E; the total area of the county is 1126 square kilometers; it has jurisdiction over 8 towns and 3 townships. The total population is 176800 (2014). In 2015, Jixi County completed the area