• Mesa
  • Wuqia Xian

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.

Wuqia County is located in the western part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, the north of Pamir, the western end of Tarim Basin, the southern foot of Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains. It is bordered by the city of Atushi to the east, Shufu County to the southeast, Aktao County to the southwest and the Kyrgyz Republic to the northwest. Wuqia Town, a county seat, is 1500 kilometers away from Urumqi Highway. Wuqia County is located at the junction of the southern foot of the Gantian Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains. It is bordered by Atushi City and Shufu County in the east, Aktao County in the south and Kyrgyzstan in the northwest (the border is 410 km long). It is 180km long from east to west and 160km wide from north to south, with a total area of 17900 square kilometers. It has jurisdiction over 2 towns and 9 townships, 1 port management committee, 34 villagers' committees, 8 community neighborhood committees and 144 party branches.
Travel Sights In Wuqia Xian
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Travel Asks In Wuqia Xian