• Mesa
  • TongdeXian

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.

Tongde County is located in the southeast of Qinghai Province, at the junction of Hainan, Huangnan and Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and belongs to the people's Government of Hainan Prefecture. The Xijiu Highway, the provincial highway, runs through the whole territory from north to south, and the Yellow River surrounds the county in a half-ring from east to west. The county seat is located 3060 meters above sea level, 256km away from the state capital Chabqa town and 282km away from the provincial capital Xining, with a resident population of about 9000. The climate is typical plateau continental climate, the highest elevation in the county is 4671 meters, the lowest elevation is 2648 meters, the average elevation is 3660 meters, the average annual temperature is 0.4 ℃-0.6 ℃, the average annual precipitation is 440mm, and there is no absolute frost-free period. The county has a total area of 4758 square kilometers and has jurisdiction over 73 administrative villages in 2 towns and 3 townships. In 2009, the total population was 61000.
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