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.
Mingshui County, under the jurisdiction of Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, is located in the southwest of Heilongjiang Province, northwest of Songnen Plain. It is bordered by Helen in the east, Lindian in the west, Qinggang in the south and Baiquan in the north. It is 86 km long from east to west and 31.5 km wide from north to south. The total area is 2400 square kilometers, with an area of 1.63 million mu of arable land, 700000 mu of grassland and 540000 mu of woodland. Mingshui County has jurisdiction over 5 towns and 7 townships with a population of 350000 (2010). Mingshui is located at high latitudes and belongs to the sub-humid climate of mid-temperate zone, with an average temperature of 2.9 ℃, annual sunshine of 2800 hours and annual average precipitation of about 480mm. Mingshui County is known as "one forest, two grasses, seven fields". National Highway 202 (Harbin first Class Highway) runs through the whole territory, and forms traffic extending in all directions with Minghai, Mingsan and Mingshen secondary national roads.