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{{Short description|Feature near Delingha, Qinghai, China}}
{{multiple issues|1=
The '''Baigong pipes''', which are also known as '''{{lang|zh-hans|白公山鐵铁管}}''' ('''Bai Gongshan Iron Pipes''') and '''Delingha pipes''', are a series of pipe-like features<ref identifiedname="XinminWeekly">{{Cite bynews some|date=October as13, fossil2003 trees or tree roots,<ref>"|title=Alien Ruins Show" ''(fantasy programming) |work=[[Xinmin Weekly''. October 13, 2003.]]}}</ref> found on and near White Mountain ({{lang-zh|s=白公山), transliterated as|p=Báigōngshān}} 'Mount Baigong (Báigōngshān'), about {{convert|40|km|mi|adj=on|sp=us}} southwest of the city of [[Delingha]], in the [[Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture]], [[Qinghai]] Province, [[China]].▼
{{fringe theories|date=June 2016}}
{{refimprove|date=June 2016}}
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▲The '''Baigong pipes''', which are also known as '''白公山鐵管''' ('''Bai Gongshan Iron Pipes''') and '''Delingha pipes''', are a series of pipe-like features identified by some as fossil trees or tree roots,<ref>"Alien Ruins Show" ''Xinmin Weekly''. October 13, 2003.</ref> found on and near White Mountain (白公山), transliterated as Mount Baigong (Báigōngshān), about {{convert|40|km|mi|adj=on|sp=us}} southwest of the city of [[Delingha]], in the [[Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture]], [[Qinghai]] Province, [[China]].
==White Mountain (白公山)==
Some of the Baigong pipes are reported to be associated with three caves in White Mountain. These caves are reported to occur within the front face of White Mountain. The mouths of the two smaller caves have collapsed. Only the largest cave, which is 6 meters (18 feet) high, can be entered. The vague resemblance of the top of White Mountain to a pyramid has been the focus of speculation.<ref name="xin1">{{cite news |last= |first= |title= Chinese Scientists Head for Suspected ET Relics |work= |pages= |language= |publisher=Xinhua News Agency |date=June 19, 2002 |url= http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-06/19/content_448113.htm |access-date=November 20, 2006}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=June 2016|reason=WP:FRINGE}}<ref name=li1>{{cite news |last=Li |first=Heng |title=Mysterious Pipes Left by 'ET' Reported from Qinghai |work=People's Daily Online |pages= |language= |publisher= |date=June 25, 2002 |url= http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200206/25/eng20020625_98530.shtml |access-date=November 20, 2006}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=June 2016|reason=WP:FRINGE}}
Two pipe-like structures have been reported from the largest cave. One of these is described as being 40 cm (16 in) in diameter and there are more along a nearby salt lake,<ref name="Dunning">{{cite web |last1=Dunning |first1=Brian |title=The Baigong Pipes |url=https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4181 |website=Skeptoid |language=en}}</ref> where similar formations were found on shore and within [[Tuosu Lake]], also transliterated as ''Lake Toson,'' which lies 80 meters (260 feet) from the mouth of the largest cave. On the beach of the lake, about 80 meters (130 feet) from the mouth of the largest cave, more pipes were found.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Qifu |last2=Feng |first2=Xiyuan |last3=Liu |first3=Jing |last4=Zhang |first4=Xin |last5=Shen |first5=Guoping |last6=Zhu |first6=Derui |date=2017 |title=Microbial Diversity of Keluke-Tuosu Lake Wetland Reserve in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau |url=http://english.gyig.cas.cn/pu/Papers_of_EE/201707/t20170725_181254.html |journal=Earth and Environment |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=399–407}}</ref>
Two pipe-like structures have been reported from the largest cave. One of these is described as being 40 cm (16 in) in diameter, one only preserved as a reddish-brown half-pipe formation. Dozens of upright pipe-like features, about 10 to 40 cm (4 to 16 inches) in diameter, were also found protruding from White Mountain above the largest cave.<ref name="xin1" /><ref name=li1/>
==Tuosu Lake (Lake Toson)==
Similar formations were found on shore and within [[Tuosu Lake]], also transliterated as ''Lake Toson,'' which lies 80 meters (260 feet) from the mouth of the largest cave. On the beach of the lake, about 40 meters (130 feet) from the mouth of the largest cave, apparently flat-lying, hollow, pipe-like features were found, reddish-brown, and ranging in diameter from 2 to 4.5 cm (0.8 to 1.8 inch) and have an east–west orientation. Another group of similar features, presumably vertical, either protrude from or lie just below the surface of the lake, but the reports are unclear.<ref name="xin1" /><ref name="li1" /> Tuosu Lake is a saline and alkaline lake<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Li|first1=Xiangzhong|last2=Zhou|first2=Xin|last3=Liu|first3=Weiguo|last4=Wang|first4=Zheng|last5=He|first5=Yuxin|last6=Xu|first6=Liming|title=Carbon and oxygen isotopic records from Lake Tuosu over the last 120 years in the Qaidam Basin, Northwestern China: The implications for paleoenvironmental reconstruction|journal=Global and Planetary Change|date=2016|volume=141|pages=54–62|doi=10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.04.006}}</ref> with a dominant bacterial population made of ''[[Halomonas]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Long |first1=Qifu|last2=Feng|first2= Xiyuan|last3= Liu|first3= Jing|last4= Zhang |first4=Xin| last5=Shen|first5= Guoping|last6= Zhu |first6=Derui|url=http://english.gyig.cas.cn/pu/Papers_of_EE/201707/t20170725_181254.html |title=Microbial Diversity of Keluke-Tuosu Lake Wetland Reserve in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau|journal= Earth and Environment|volume=45|issue= 4|date=2017|pages=399–407}}</ref>
==Investigation==
Associated with these pipe-like features are objects that were described as "rusty scraps" and "strangely shaped stones". Analysis of the former by Liu Shaolin at a local [[smeltery]] reportedly found that they consist of 30 percent [[ferric oxide]] (oxidized iron) and large amounts of [[silicon dioxide]] and [[calcium oxide]].<ref name="li1">{{Cite news |last=Li |first=Heng |url=http://en.people.cn/200206/25/eng20020625_98530.shtml |title=Mysterious Pipes Left by 'ET' Reported from Qinghai |date=June 25, 2002 |work=People's Daily Online |access-date=April 10, 2020}}</ref> Because any metallurgical analysis reports the composition of a material analyzed not in terms of the actual minerals comprising it, but only in terms of percentages of the oxides of the specific elements present, the calcium present in the analyzed material could have been in the form of [[calcite]], a mineral that naturally forms [[concretion]]s.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}
According to news stories,{{citation needed|date=March 2015}} the pipes were first discovered by a group of scientists from the United States who were seeking dinosaur fossils. The scientists are said to have reported the formations to local authorities in [[Delingha]]. However, the pipes did not attract attention until a later report, possibly one of six made by [[Ye Zhou]], appeared in the ''Henan Dahe Bao'' ({{Lang|zh|河南大河报}} 'Henan Great River News') in June 2002. Quin Jianwen, a local official, discussed the pipe-like features with journalists of the [[Xinhua News Agency]] on June 16, 2002. The local government now promotes the features as a tourist attraction, to which road signs and tourist guides lead visitors.<ref name="lusby1">{{citeCite news |last1=Lusby |first1=J. |last2=Wan |first2=A. |title=1998 Discovery of Millennia-old Spacecraft Launch Pad in China? |work=City Weekend |pages= |language= |publisher= |date=July 18, 2002 |urlwork=City Weekend |access-datelast2=Wan |first2=A.}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=June 2016|reason=WP:FRINGE}}
According to a 2003 article in the ''Xinmin Weekly'', Chinese scientists using atomic emission spectroscopy found the Baigong Pipes to contain organic matter of plant origin. In addition, the news article also stated that tree rings were found in sections of these rock formations and, as a result, they were judged to be fossil trees or tree roots.<ref>"Alien Ruins Showname="XinminWeekly" ''Xinmin Weekly''. October 13, 2003.</ref>.
The state-run newspaper ''[[People's Daily]]'' reported on a 2007 investigation in which a research fellow from the Chinese Earthquake Administration reported they had found some of the pipes to be highly radioactive.<ref>{{citeCite web |publisherurl=Peopleshttp://en.people.cn/200705/25/eng20070525_378028.html Daily|title=Probing into the "ET relic site" in China's Qinghai |urldate=May http://english.people.com.cn/200705/25/eng20070525_378028.html, 2007 |website=Peoples Daily |access-date=MayApril 200710, 2020}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=June 2016|reason=WP:FRINGE}}
==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}
{{more footnotes|date=June 2016}}
==Sources==
* {{Skeptoid|id=4181|number=181|title=The Baigong Pipes|date= November 24, 2009}}
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