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.
Lingyuan is located in the west of Liaoning Province, hosted by Chaoyang City at the prefecture level. Named after the birthplace of the Daling River, it is located at the confluence of Liaoning, Hebei and Inner Mongolia provinces (regions). It is an important traffic contact city connecting the two major urban agglomerations of Beijing and Shenyang and connecting the hinterland of Inner Mongolia and the coastal port. It is 435 kilometers away from Shenyang, 371 kilometers away from Beijing and 150 kilometers away from Qinhuangdao. Lingyuan is a part of the hills and mountains of western Liaoning, with vertical and horizontal gullies and overlapping mountains. The terrain is high in the northwest and low in the southeast. The city has a total area of 3278 square kilometers and a population of 651000 (2016). It has jurisdiction over 9 townships, 13 towns and 8 streets. In 2018, Lingyuan achieved a full-caliber regional GDP of 15.58 billion yuan in 2018, an increase of 0.2% over 2015 at comparable prices. Niuheliang Red found in its territory