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.
Xinhe County is under the jurisdiction of Xingtai City, Hebei Province, which is located in the south of Hebei Province and the north of Xingtai City. The administrative area covers an area of 366 square kilometers and has a resident population of 174300 (2016). It has jurisdiction over 2 towns, 4 townships and 169 administrative villages. The county people's government is stationed in the eastern section of Guangming Road, Xinhe Town. The ownership of the new river has been changed many times in previous dynasties, but it is not often abandoned. Tangyang County was bought in the early Western Han Dynasty, and it was called Xinhe County in the fourth year of Huangyou in the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 1052). People with lofty ideals emerged in history, such as Tian Guang, a virgin of the State of Yan, Hou Gengchun of Dongguang of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yan Liang, a famous general of the three Kingdoms, Song Dengchun, a poet of the Ming Dynasty, and Dong Zhentang, a senior general of the Red Army. There are Tuotuo Tomb, Liu Gongdi, Ciming Temple and other historical sites in the territory. It is listed as the first batch of millennium ancient counties in Hebei Province. Xinhe County is located in the Fuyang River alluvial plain, the terrain is flat, with an average elevation of 25 meters.