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.
Luxi County is a county under the jurisdiction of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. It is located in the southeast of Yunnan Province and in the north of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture. Its geographical coordinates are 103 °30 degrees north longitude, 103 °30 degrees longitude, 39 °46 #39;, 24 °15 degrees north latitudes, bordering Shizong County in the northeast, facing Qiubei County in the southeast, and adjoining Maile County in the southwest. The northwest is connected with Lunan County and Luliang County. 166km from the provincial capital Kunming, 178km from the state capital Mengzi, 176km from Qujing, 235km from Wenshan, 182km from Xingyi, Guizhou province, with a total area of 1674 square kilometers. Luxi County is located in the upper reaches of the Pearl River Basin and in the east.