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.
Shunhe Hui area is under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng City, Henan Province, located in the northeast of Kaifeng City, with geographical coordinates longitude 114 °20 mi 114 °26, latitude 34 °45 mi 34 °49, Shangqiu area in the east, Zhengzhou, the provincial capital in the west, Xuchang City and Zhoukou in the south, and the Yellow River in the north. The total area is 86 square kilometers. As of 2012, Shunhe Hui District has jurisdiction over 6 streets (Caomen Street, Iron Tower Street, Songmen Street, Qingping Street, Industrial Street, Apple Orchard Street), 2 townships (Dongjiao Township, Tubogang Township), and 1 provincial industrial agglomeration area (Biandong Industrial agglomeration area). With a total population of about 256000, there are more than 20 ethnic groups, such as Han, Hui, Manchu, Mongolian and so on. In 2013, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Shunhe Hui area reached 6.925 billion yuan.