Anlong Pyramids: China’s pyramid-shaped mountains that spark conspiracy theories

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1 week ago Robin

Guizhou Province, Southwest China’s Guizhou Province, is home to about a dozen conical hills known as the Anlong Pyramids because of their resemblance to the much more popular Egypt’s pyramids.

In recent years, Anlong County has become a popular tourist destination for this reason, as the mountains have captured the imaginations of millions of people around the world.
Apart from their curious shape, these mountains also feature layers of rock stacked on top of each other so neatly that you could swear they were placed like that by someone.
Or something.
Not by chance, conspiracy theories about their origin began appearing and, despite experts’ best efforts to convince the public that these pyramids are completely natural, some people still believe that they are the work of an ancient civilization or even of aliens.

However, Professor Zhou Qiuwen from the School of Geography and Environmental Science at Guizhou Normal University, explained that the mountain formations are natural happenings and attributed their pyramid-like shape to the intricate work of nature.
When asked about the layered characteristics of the rocks on the “Anlong pyramids,” he clarified that the rocks in Anlong are limestone formations dating back to over 200 million years to the early to middle Triassic ages, that were formed in a marine environment, with minerals dissolved in water recrystallizing to create the distinct layers seen today due to periodic changes in climate and geology.
At the time, the county was still a shallow sea, minerals began dissolving in the water and recrystallizing as dolomite, not by chance the main component of today’s pyramids.
And, due to periodic changes in climate, geological structure, and other factors, the stacked layers of rocks are so clearly distinct.
Moreover, he explained that the block-like structure of the rocks, which many consider proof of human or alien intervention, is the result of a known geological process: small cracks within the rocks allow water to slowly erode them, creating segmented block-like formations, rather than complete dissolution.
Regarding the peculiar pyramid shape of these karst formations, he explained that the karst topography of the region undergoes vertical erosion by water, with the top layers eroding faster and the lower ones at a slower pace, which results in these pyramid-like shapes with sharp peaks and broad bases.
Despite all the scientific explanations, people continue to speculate about the origin of the Anlong Pyramids, with some claiming that they are ancient tombs built by an old civilization, others that they are prototypes of actual pyramids, and some going as far as saying that they are the work of aliens…