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.
Kuqa is a Turkic transliteration, a place name in Uygur language and a meaning of hutong. "it is named because it is an important street in the hinterland of southern Xinjiang." "Kuche" has been written in many ways since ancient times, such as "Qiu ci", "qu Zi", "qu Xian", "Jiuzi", "Ku fork" and so on. It was named Kuche in 1758. It is said that "Kuqa" is an ancient Qiuci language, meaning "the city of Qiuci people". Kuqa County, which belongs to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, is located in the central and western part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, and belongs to the eastern end of Aksu region. The geographical location is between 40 °46 °N and 42 °35'N and 82 °35 °E and 84 °17'E. Kuqa County covers an area of 15200 square kilometers (2009). Kuqa County is a famous national historical and cultural city, with a large number of ancient city walls, temples, grottoes, beacons,