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.
Xifeng County, under the jurisdiction of Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, is located between 106 °27' E longitude and 106 °53 °E, and between 26 °57' and 27 °19'N latitude. It faces Kaiyang in the east, Xiuwen in the south, and Bozhou District and Jinsha County in Zunyi City in the northwest. It is located in the economic zone of central Guizhou, the ecological protection and development zone of Guiyang and the real economic belt of high-tech industries in the north. Xifeng County has a total area of 1036.5 square kilometers and has jurisdiction over 1 community service center, 9 towns, 1 township, 174 villages and homes. The county people's government is in Yongjing town. The name "Xifeng" in Xifeng County was given by Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty to "quell the beacon fire". Located in the economic zone of central Guizhou, located in the ecological protection and development zone of Guiyang and the real economic belt of high-tech industries in the north, across the Wujiang River from Zunyi County and Jinsha County in the north, and to the south.