Friday, January 9, 2015

Baigong Pipes


Mount Baigong
Credit: panoramio.com
Baigong Pipes – Series of Pipes in Ancient Caves

The Baigong Pipes are said to be a series of pipes like features which have been found buried in the ancient rock cave near Mount Baigong southwest of the city of Delingha, in Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China.

Locals inhabiting the area of Qinghai’s Delingha city were aware of the pipes for centuries. Some of these pipes have been considered to be connected with three caves in Mount Baigong which are within the front area of the Mount. While the openings of the two small caves have been ruined, the largest cave which is around 6 meters high can be explored and Mount Baigong’svague resemblance to a pyramid has been the cause of much speculation.

From the largest cave, two Baigong pipes have been discovered where one of these is around 40 cm in diameter which has been preserved as a reddish brown half pipe. In the same cave another pipe of similar diameter had also been found with dozens of upright pipe like features of about 10 by 40 cm in diameter were also located protruding from the largest cave on Mount Baigong.

Pipes on Shore & Within Toson Lake

Baigong Pipes 1
Image credit: NationalParkLover
Besides these additional pipes were also discovered on shore and within Toson Lake which is 80 meters from the entrance of the largest cave. Forty meters from the mouth of the largest cave, on the beach of Lake Toson, flat lying hollow, pipe like features were also discovered and these reddish brown pipe tend to range in diameter from 2 to 4.5 cm having an east west orientation.

Below the surface of the lake, another group of pipes probably vertical were also found. The pipes when tested at a local smeltery indicated that they were made of iron but with an unusual silicon dioxide of thirty percent in their matrix and were centuries old according to Xinhua as well as its source, Liu Shaolin, the engineer who had carried out the preliminary tests.

Though dozens of pipes openings have been found in the mountain way beyond the caves, the people who were responsible for it could have some advanced way of drilling which could be probably forgotten since there is no record or trace of any modern industry in the area.

Details Analysis in 2002

Some distance from the foot of the Baigong is the Toson Lake with several more iron pipes on the beach which are of unlikely patterns together with a variety of diameters, of toothpick sizes.Additional pipes were also found in the lake some of which protruding above the water surface while others were buried beneath the bed of the lake.

Dating of these pipes with the use of thermo luminescence, a technique which determines the extent of exposure of crystalline mineral to sunlight or heat was done. It is presumed that humans could have inhabited the region for the past 30,000 years who could have been nomads with no trace of any known lifestyle that could be left behind.

Though nine Chinese scientists had been deployed to make a detailed analysis of the pipes in the year 2002, no further information has been reported regarding the pipes.

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