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.
Kangle County, which belongs to Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province, is located in the transition zone from Loess Plateau to Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with a total area of 1083 square kilometers, with an average elevation of 2000 meters and a total area of 1083 square kilometers. It is bordered by Lintao County and Weiyuan County in Dingxi City in the east, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture and Zheng County in the west, Lintan County and Zhuoni County in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the south, and Guanghe County in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in the north. Kangle County has Lianhuashan National Forest Park, Yao Shuixia Forest Park, Bamboo ditch, Peony Valley, West Honeycomb Temple, Line House and other scenic spots. According to the official website in July 2019, Kangle County has a total population of 277700, including Hui, Han, Dongxiang, Baoan, Salar, Tu, Tibetan, Mongolian and Kazakh nationalities.