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.
Xiangzhou County, which belongs to Laibin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region, is located in the middle of Guangxi, at the western foot of Dayaoshan Mountain, Xingbin District in the west, Wuxuan County in the south, Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County in the east, Luzhai County and Liujiang District in the north, between 109 °25 degrees east longitude and 110 °06 degrees east longitude and 23 °44 degrees east latitude and 24 °18 degrees north latitude. The town of Xiangzhou County is 189 kilometers away from Nanning, the capital of Guangxi. The administrative area of Xiangzhou County covers a total area of 1898 square kilometers. By the end of 2014, it had jurisdiction over 8 towns and 3 townships, with a total population of 367136, including 292500 permanent residents. In 2014, the county completed a regional GDP of 9.129 billion yuan, an increase of 11.1% over 2013. Xiangzhou County is located in the mountainous and hilly area, with high slopes in the northwest and limestone in the southwest.