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.
Pingtang County belongs to Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province, Dushan County in the east, Nandan County in Guangxi in the south, Huishui County and Luodian County in the west, and Guiding County and Duyun City in the north. It is 710 meters above sea level, 36 kilometers away from Dushan, 66 kilometers away from Duyun, 122 kilometers away from Luodian, 193 kilometers away from Guiyang City and 35 kilometers away from Guixin Expressway. The county people's government in Pinghu Town is located in longitude and latitude 106 °40 °29 "~ 107 °26 °19" east longitude and 25 °29 °55 "~ 26 °06 °41" north latitude. In 2014, the administrative division of Pingtang County was adjusted to 9 towns, 1 township, 121 administrative villages and 1745 villagers. Pinghu county government is stationed in Pinghu town. Located in the south of Guizhou Province, south of Qiannan Autonomous Prefecture, south and