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.
Xiangtan County is located in the north of Nanyue Hengshan Mountain, the west bank of the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River, the northern section of the Changheng Hilly Basin, between latitude 27 °20 mi 28 °05 'north and longitude 112 °25 mi 113 °03' east, Zhuzhou City and Dengkou District in the east, Hengdong County, Hengshan County and Shuangfeng County in the south, Xiangxiang City and Shaoshan City in the west, and Xiangtan City in the north. Under the jurisdiction of 15 towns, 4 townships, a total of 645 administrative villages, 14 neighborhood committees, 14 community neighborhood committees. In 2015, according to Xiangtan County township division adjustment plan, the adjustment under the jurisdiction of 3 townships and 14 towns. Xiangtan County, known as the Pearl of Central Hunan, is the hometown of Xianglian in China and the birthplace of Huxiang culture. The whole county belongs to the comprehensive reform pilot area of resource-saving and environment-friendly society (that is, national "two-oriented society") of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration.