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.
Shandong Province, a coastal province in East China, referred to as Lu, is the capital of Jinan. It is located in the east coast of China, between latitude 34 °22.9 °mi 38 °24.01 °N and longitude 114 °47.5 °Mo 122 °42.3'E. it borders Hebei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces from north to south. The central part of Shandong Province is mountainous, the southwest and northwest are low-lying and flat, the eastern part is gently hilly, the eastern part is Shandong Peninsula, the western and northern parts belong to the North China Plain, and the central and southern part is mountainous and hilly, forming the landforms with mountains and hills as the skeleton, plain and basin crisscross ring, including mountains, hills, platforms, basins, plains, lakes and other types. It spans the Huaihe River, Yellow River, Haihe River, Xiaoqing River and Jiaodong five major river systems; it belongs to the warm temperate monsoon climate. As of