The story of the "mysterious pipes of Mount Baigong" is one of the unsolved mysteries of the last decade. An incredible find, made by a group of enthusiasts in China, wanders the news pages, but has not yet been seriously studied by science.
Because of this, versions about the origin of strange objects appear one after another and seem to compete in improbability.
"Ancient aqueduct", "device for draining the lake" and even "launch pad for alien spaceships" - everyone chooses what he likes best. And for the most enterprising residents of the surrounding settlements, the mysterious pipes of Baigong are just an attraction for tourists, on the accompaniment of which you can make good money. Baigong iron pipes (白 公 山 铁 管) are supposedly prehistoric metal pipes found in 1996 on Mount Baigongshan (Chinese: 白 公 山, pall.: Baigongshan) in the city of Delingha Haixi-Mongolian-Tibetan province, Qinghai Autonomous Region.
The Baigun pipes got their name from their location - the sixty-meter Baigongshan mountain. It is located on the shores of the small salt lake Toson in the city of Delingha Haishi-Mongolian-Tibet Autonomous Region of Qinghai Province.
History
In 1996, when examining Mount Baigongshan, about two dozen pipes with a diameter of 2 to 40 cm were found, which came out of the rocks, giving the impression of an artificial system. The study of their chemical composition showed a significant content of iron oxide with a high content of silicon dioxide and calcium oxide. The age of the find was estimated to be more than 5 thousand years, that is, older than the beginning of iron production in China.
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For the first time, publicly available information on the Baygun pipes appeared in June 2002. One of the Chinese newspapers published a report telling that a find was made, allegedly calling into question the entire human history. A series of publications that followed described the found pipes as the remains of alien structures, which became a sensation. Local authorities, taking advantage of the situation, very quickly set about creating a tourist attraction. On the roads, signs to "alien structures" were placed, the Baygun pipes were included in reference books and even a monument to aliens was erected there.
A group of American scientists was engaged in the search for dinosaur remains in the area of Mount Baigong. And suddenly I came across several caves in which there was a strange object that attracted their attention. They were two pipes, as if made of rusty iron. Both were about 40 centimeters in diameter. One at the same time went into the cave, passing from the top of the mountain. The second one came from the bottom of the cave somewhere below. All this gave the impression of the remains of some ancient system or mechanism. Of the three caves found by the Baigong researchers, two turned out to be collapsed, so it is not yet known what is hidden in them. The found pipes are located in the third, largest cave, which, however, is also not very large: 2 meters wide, 6 meters deep. Later, about 12 (and according to other sources, even several dozen) other pipes were discovered around it,with a diameter of 2 to 4.5 centimeters. According to eyewitnesses, they are intertwined in a complex system, which indicates an extremely high level of technology among their creators.
Lake Toson is located 80 meters from Mount Baigong. On its bank, closest to the mountain, many pipes were also found, similar to those in the cave. Their diameter varies from a few centimeters to a couple of millimeters (the smallest is not thicker than a toothpick). They find pipes allegedly in the lake itself - both at the bottom and sticking out on the surface. A legacy of unknown times Mount Baigong is located in a rather uninhabited area. And deserted not only by Chinese standards.
From the nearest town of Delingha, with a population of 100 thousand people, it is separated by 40 kilometers. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the mysterious pipes remained hidden from human eyes for a long time. However, they continue to receive little attention after their discovery. Until now, not a single truly scientific study of the mysterious phenomenon has been carried out. About Baigong pipes are not written in scientific journals, and the main source of information is the media, mainly reprint each other. This, of course, gives scope to the authors of the most incredible assumptions.
Some are convinced that the pipes are the remains of an ancient aqueduct. Somewhere rumors came from that on the top of Mount Baigong there was once a pyramid with a height of about 50-60 meters. On one of its faces there were three triangular shafts, as well as several wells going down to the foot of the mountain. The pyramid allegedly housed some kind of complex mechanism, to which water from Lake Toson was supplied through a complex system of pipes. However, if we assume that this is so, then who built this strange object and what was its purpose? The version that this engineering miracle was built by the ancient Chinese disappears immediately. The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire are the authors of many inventions, and one of them is the bureaucracy.
It is simply impossible to imagine that such a large-scale and, without exaggeration, a great construction project was reflected in any ancient Chinese source. After any large construction project, documents would inevitably be preserved. And the emperor, during whose reign this happened, would have made sure that his great deed was not forgotten by his descendants. Maybe the building was secret? Who knows if one of the ancient rulers set up some kind of experiments there? Maybe he was trying to get the "pills of immortality", which the Chinese have dreamed of since ancient times, or was he preparing a superweapon to defeat enemies?
Even so, it is not clear why only a few pipes have survived from such a grandiose project - and no traces of mechanisms, instruments or laboratories. And the ancient Chinese did not know how to make such iron pipes. Supporters of absolutely fantastic versions declared the Baigong pipes to be traces of a landing site for alien spaceships. True, they have not yet decided what exactly the pipes were used for - to pump either water or air. It is clear that it is impossible to prove such an assumption. As there is still no even approximate dating - when these artifacts were created.
In order to seriously talk about who created the pipes of Mount Baigong, a detailed chemical analysis of the material from which they are made is required. So far, one of the few who has done this is the Chinese scientist Liu Shaolin. However, he told only journalists about the results of his research, but he has not yet shared them with his fellow scientists.
According to Liu Shaolin, the pipes are mainly composed of iron, calcium and silicon oxides. Interestingly, approximately 8% of the composition was considered by the Chinese to be "not identifiable." Based on the data of Liu Shaolin, the Baigong pipes are likely to be quite ordinary, although original in form of calcite formation. Most likely, these are the so-called pseudomorphoses. They are obtained when a mineral gradually replaces the form of an organic object (for example, a clam shell). This is how the petrification process takes place, thanks to which we know the appearance of many ancient inhabitants of the Earth. In this case, to all appearances, calcite replaced not the remains of ancient organisms, but ordinary tree roots that sprouted through the thickness of the rock.
Everyone who has ever been in the mountains knows that the old mighty trees are capable of this. And the largest “pipe” in diameter is most likely a petrified tree trunk. These conclusions are supported by data obtained after studying the Baigong tubes with an atomic spectroscope in 2003. Chinese scientists have found there clear traces of organic matter and even visible annual rings.
However, this does not mean that the issue of the pipes of Mount Baigong is completely closed. In 2007, researchers at the China Earthquake Authority announced that, according to their data, some pipes are quite radioactive. What this can mean and how it can be so is another mystery. To which we may find out the answer in the future.
Conducted research
The Baigun pipes were subjected to detailed study, which made it possible to reliably establish that not only aliens, but even humans, were not involved in their creation. Isotopic analysis of the material showed that there is nothing extraterrestrial in it, and microstructural analysis - that they were not made by human hands.
Examination of pipe material samples taken at a distance from the rock surface, that is, from places that excluded weathering, revealed the presence of plant residues that have turned into coal. This made the process of emergence of the Baygun pipes understandable.
Once upon a time, trees grew on this place, later heaped up with sedimentary rocks. As the wood degenerated, the water rich in iron penetrated through the natural cavity between the tree and the species, gradually enclosing it in a "natural iron shell". Further, when erosion opened the buried trees, pipes, and in fact the remains of trunks and branches, came to the surface. The coal, which the trees turned into during this time, weathered in their surface part, and in the rocky ground it was preserved and was discovered.
Events took place millions of years ago. This means that previous estimates of pipe age were too rejuvenated.
Existing similar artifacts
Similar artifacts from other places are known in the world. For example, on the Colorado plateau. Pipes here also have a diameter of 50 cm to 1 centimeter or less, depending on which branches and trunks have undergone the process of coating with an iron crust. Something similar was found in Louisiana (USA). In this case, the diameters reach 70 cm.