• Mesa
  • Wuwei

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.

Wuwei, a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of Gansu Province, is named "China Wine City", referred to as "Yongliang", "Liangliang" and "Yong". It is located in the confluence of the Loess Plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Mengxin Plateau. The topography is high in the west and low in the east, and the local topography is complex. It belongs to the temperate continental arid climate, which is characterized by four distinct seasons, cold winter and summer. It has jurisdiction over one district, two counties and one autonomous county, with a total area of 33238 square kilometers and a resident population of 1.8253 million in 2017. Wuwei has a long history. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent general Huo to go on an expedition to Hexi to defeat the Xiongnu and named Wuwei for its "martial arts and military prestige". Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened up the four counties in Hexi, successive dynasties have set up prefectures and mansions here. Wuwei is the key point of the ancient Silk Road, with many places of interest, snowy plateaus and oasis style.
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