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.
Lingchuan County, which belongs to Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, is located in the southeast of Shanxi Province, Gaoping in the west, Zezhou County in the southwest, Huguan and Changzhi in the north, and Huixian City and Xiuwu County in Henan Province in the east and south, which is the gateway to the southeast of Shanxi Province. The county has a total area of 1751 square kilometers, most of which are between 1,200 mi 1600m above sea level, with the highest elevation of 1796.2 m and the lowest elevation of 628m. The stony mountain area accounts for 43.9% of the total area of the county. It has jurisdiction over 7 communities in 7 towns, 5 townships, 371 administrative villages and 7 communities, with a total population of 255000, including an agricultural population of 226000. Lingchuan has a long history and heavy cultural accumulation. The ancient domain is the Yao and Shun tribes, which is the birthplace of go in the world. Since the founding of the county by Emperor Kaihuang of the Sui Dynasty (596 AD), there have been 7 top winners and 93 in history.