The official explanation for the appearance of the Baigun pipes is disputed. To date, there is no consensus on this object in science. In early 1996, a group of scientists worked on Mount Baigushan.
The team drew attention to an unusual area of ruined rock: the embankment opened up iron pipes installed directly into the rock of about the same size and diameter. The pipes gave the impression of an artificial structure. All the more bizarre were the results of subsequent chemical analyses. The data clearly showed that the iron pipes in the rock were over a million years old.
A total of two dozen pipes were found in the mountain. They all emerged from the rock and looked like part of a mechanism assembled for unknown purposes. Already the first chemical analyzes showed a high content of iron oxide, silicon dioxide and calcium oxide. Initially, the age of the discovery was estimated at 5,000 years – even then, China had not yet started iron production in those years.
But then the data was clarified. More modern systems have shown the pipes to be much older, at least a few million years. Then similar structures were found in nearby caves, and some pipes led researchers directly to Lake Toson.
It would be logical to assume that the pipes are part of the old plumbing. They lead from the water to the caves; some scholars have also considered them artificial. Obviously, millions of years ago, no water supply could exist.
There is a slight nuance in discussing the situation with the artifact. Baigun pipes were found in 1996, but the first newspaper publication about this phenomenon appeared only in 2002. For six years, the authorities did not allow discussion of the find.
Five years later, the official version of the origin of the pipes is advanced. Orthodox science has completely rejected the artificial origin of the object. According to some scientists, the waters of the local river contain a high iron content. The pipes, according to them, are just hollow tree trunks.
Millions of years ago they fell under a collapse, then water finally encased them in an iron shell – so much iron dioxide was deposited on the trunks that the discovery team found them taken for an artificial system.