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.
Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city of Zhejiang Province. Located in the north-central part of Zhejiang Province and the south bank of Hangzhou Bay, it is a cultural and eco-tourism city with the characteristics of water villages in the south of the Yangtze River, an important city in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, a core city around Hangzhou Bay, and a deputy central city in Hangzhou metropolitan area. Ningbo City to the east, Taizhou City and Jinhua City to the south, Hangzhou City to the west, facing Jiaxing City across the Qiantang River to the north, located in longitude 119 °53 °03cm quot east; to 121 °13 °38km quot; latitude 29 °13o 35km quot north; to 30 °170030km quot; between, it belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate, warm and humid, with four distinct seasons. The city covers an area of 8274.79 square kilometers, with a span of 130.68 kilometers from east to west and 119.83 kilometers from north to south.