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.
Wuping County is located in the southwest of Longyan City, Fujian Province, at the junction of Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces, the southernmost end of Wuyi Mountains, the westernmost end of Longyan City, Shanghang County in Fujian Province in the east, Xunwu County and Huichang County in Jiangxi Province in the west, Jiaoling County and Pingyuan County in Guangdong Province in the south, and Changting County in Fujian Province in the north. it is an important transportation hub and material transfer and distribution center in western Fujian, eastern Guangdong and southern Jiangxi, known as the "Golden Triangle" in western Fujian. Wuping County is a low mountain and hilly area with an average elevation of 274m, with a slope from northwest to southeast, ravines vertically and horizontally, continuous mountains, the top of Liangshan, the highest peak, 1538 meters above sea level, high mountains in the northwest, wide flatlands in the southeast, mild climate, abundant rainfall, four distinct seasons, long summer and short winter, no severe cold in winter, no hot summer, and distinct dry and wet seasons. The annual average temperature is 17,519.6 degrees, with an annual drop.