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.
Zaduo County belongs to Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, bordering Yushu and Nangqian counties in the east and southeast, Tanggula Mountain in the west, Dingqing, Baqing, Nierong, Suoxian and Anduo in Changdu and Naqu in the Tibet Autonomous region in the south and southwest, and Zhiduo County in the north. The area is 35000 square kilometers. At the end of 2014, the total population of the county was 62769, mainly Tibetans, including Han, Turkish, Hui, Mongolian and other ethnic groups. Zaduo County has Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve, Ansai primeval forest, Zuoqing Temple and other tourist attractions. Zaduo County Postal Code: September 25, 8153992018, won the honorary title of "2018 e-commerce into rural comprehensive demonstration county" of the Ministry of Commerce.