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.
Lingshi County, located in the middle of Shanxi Province and at the southern end of Jinzhong Basin, is known as "the main road of Qin and Jin dynasties and the thoroughfare of Sichuan and Shaanxi". It is 150 kilometers away from the provincial capital Taiyuan, facing Jiexiu to the north, Huozhou to the south, Qinyuan to the east, Jiaokou and Xiaoyi to the west, and it is known as "the Emperor of Yanji and the Classic of Qin and Shu". The county covers a total area of 1206 square kilometers, with a width of 53.5km from east to west and 39km from north to south. With a total population of 267000 (2013), it has jurisdiction over 6 towns, 6 townships, 3 communities, 291 administrative villages and 13 neighborhood committees. The territory of ups and downs, ravines vertical and horizontal, Dayun highway, South Tongpu railway along the Fenhe parallel. Lingshi is also an important energy and chemical industry base in Shanxi Province, and one of the most attractive cities with investment potential and characteristics in China. In March 2019, it was listed as the first batch of revolutionary cultural relics protection and utilization districts and counties.