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.
Qiubei County is located in the southeast of Yunnan Province, with geographical coordinates of 103 °34 °E, 104 °45'E and 23 °45 °N, 24 °28'N. It is adjacent to Guangnan County in the east, Yanshan County and Kaiyuan City in the south, Maitreya and Luxi counties across the Nanpanjiang River to the west, and Shizong County and Xilin County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region to the north. The county is 100km wide from east to west and 70.5km from north to south, with a total area of 4997 square kilometers. At the end of 2007, the total population of Qiubei County was 459000. Eight ethnic groups, including Han, Zhuang, Miao, Yi, Yao, Bai, Hui and Ye, live in the territory. The total population of ethnic minorities is 287000, accounting for 62.52% of the total population. The county people's government is located in Jinping Town, 1452 meters above sea level, 280km away from the provincial capital Kunming and 280km away from Wenshan.