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.
Yuwangtai District is under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng City, Henan Province, which is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, southeast of Taihang Mountains, in the east-east of Henan Province and in the southeast of Kaifeng City, between longitude 113 °51 degrees east and latitudes 34 °11 degrees north. It faces Shangqiu area in the east, Zhengzhou City in the west, Xuchang City and Zhoukou area in the south, the Yellow River in the north, across the river from Zhongyuan Oilfield, Lianyungang, a port city at the eastern end of the Eurasian Continental Bridge in the east, and Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, 72 kilometers in the west. The total area is 60 square kilometers. As of 2013, Yuwangtai District has jurisdiction over 5 streets (Sanlibao Street, Xinmenguan Street, Fanta Street, Guanfang Street, vegetable Market Street), 2 townships (Nanjiao Township, Wangtun Township), a total of 24 communities and 33 administrative villages, with a total population of 150000.