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.
Linxiang District is located in the resident of Lincang Municipal Government, located in the southwest of Yunnan Province, on the watershed of the Lancang River and Nujiang River, close to the banks of the Lancang River, between longitude 99 °49 and latitude 23 °29, bordering Jinggu Dai Autonomous County in the east, Jingdong Yi Autonomous County and Zhenyuan Yi Hani Lahu Autonomous County in the south, Gengma Dai and WA Autonomous County in the west, and Yunxian in the north. The east-west horizontal distance is 55 kilometers, and the north-south vertical distance is 83 kilometers. The total area is 2652 square kilometers. Once known as Burma, Maining and Lincang, it was officially renamed Linxiang District on October 18, 2004. Linxiang District has jurisdiction over 7 townships, 1 town, 2 streets, 93 villages and 9 communities, with a total population of 320000 (2012), with a total area of 2652 square meters.