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.
Maguan County is a county under the jurisdiction of Wenshan Prefecture, which integrates frontiers, nationalities, poverty and mountainous areas. In 1913, it was renamed because it had the same name as Anping County, Guizhou Province. Maguan County is located in the southeast of Yunnan Province, connected with Malipo County in the east, across the Panlong River from Xichou County, bordered by Lao Street in Vietnam, Hsin Ma Street, Huangshu Street and Mengkang in the south, adjacent to Hekou and Pingbian counties in Honghe Prefecture in the southwest, and Wenshan County in the north. As of 2017, Maguan County covers an area of 2767 square kilometers, with nine towns, four townships and one farm under its jurisdiction, with a border length of 138km. It has a resident population of 379600, of which 190900 are from 11 ethnic minorities, accounting for 49.8 per cent of the total population. September 25, 2018, obtained