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.
Zhenba County, under the jurisdiction of Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, is located in the southern tip of Shaanxi Province, the southeast corner of Hanzhong City, the west of Daba Mountain and the eastern part of Micang Mountain. It is known as the "south gate" of Shaanxi Province. As the feudal city of Han General Banchao, the Red fourth Front Army once established the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base and built Shaannan County, covering an area of 3437 square kilometers, with residents of Han, Miao, Hui, Uygur, Zhuang and other ethnic groups. Zhenba County is the largest Miao settlement in the northwest. The county has Baitianhe scenic tourist area, the Miao village unique to the northwest, and the largest Bashan wood and bamboo forest in Asia. In March 2019, it was on the list of the first batch of revolutionary cultural relics protection and utilization districts and counties.