A Mountain In China Lays Stone Eggs And Scientists Are Freaking Out
Mount Gandang is a mountain in the southwestern part of China. Geologists, researchers, and locals have been watching an interesting thing happen there for decades. The rocky walls at the base of the mountain in the province of Guizhou have a cliff that locals call the egg-laying mountain- “Chan Dan Ya,” which means “egg-laying cliff” in Mandarin because it “lays” stone “eggs” every 30 years. But where do these stone eggs actually come from?
14 How big is Mount Gandang, Guizhou’s “Chan Da Ya”?
The egg-laying mountain cliff is about six meters (20 feet) wide and twenty meters (65 feet) long, which isn’t very big compared to the whole mountain. The small cliff “lays” a stone egg about once every 30 years. When the stone egg is released from the cliff, it falls to the ground, where the first lucky local to find it gets to keep it.
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13 The mountain has been laying these eggs for hundreds of years
People have seen these stone eggs being laid for hundreds of years. Since they were kids, people in that area have heard stories about the egg-laying mountain. When they are old enough, most of them go there to try to find a dropped stone egg. The size of the stone eggs that have been found ranges from 20 to 60 cm (7 to 24 in). They have a dark blue color and are almost perfectly smooth. They can reflect sunlight at certain angles after they are cleaned and polished. Some stones are so big that they weigh more than 600 pounds (272 kg)!
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12 Gulu village is the place closest to Chan Da Ya
Gulu Village, an old area in Sandu Shui Autonomous County, is the closest village to Chan Dan Ya. It is home to 250,000 Shui, which is more than 60% of China’s Shui population. The Shui people are one of China’s 56 officially recognized ethnic groups. They have lived in this area since before the Han Dynasty. Even though the area is big, the Gulu village is not very big. There are only a few dozen families who live there.
The Shui name translates to ‘water,’ which is fitting since the Shui people always settled next to rivers or streams. At some point in the past, the Shui were forced to move to the mountains, where they still live today, even though they still love the water. Their customs, folklore, and other beliefs are all linked to the concept of water. Most of their clothes are different shades of blue, like water. The Shui language, which has ten different words for “fish,” was also made with water in mind.
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11 The egg-laying cliff gives birth to rocks of fortune
Since people found out that their local mountain laid eggs, they have found more than 100 eggs at the base of the cliff. About 70 of these eggs are present in the village now. The families share them based on who found them first. They say that the rest have been sold or taken. The Shui people think that the stone eggs that come from the egg-laying mountain bring luck and good fortune, and sometimes they even worship the stones. They can be found in almost every house in the village, and people who collect them greatly respect them because they believe they bring safety and prosperity to their people, animals, and homes.
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10 How are the stone eggs formed at the egg-laying mountain?
Researchers are still trying to figure out how these strange stone eggs are formed. Based on what has been discovered, these eggs and the rocks around them in this area are thought to have formed during the Cambrian Period, about 500 million years ago. The Cambrian Period was part of the Paleozoic Era. It is known for the “Cambrian Explosion,” when most of the major animal groups on earth appeared and grew in number, according to fossils. Geologists think this area used to be underwater, which could have caused the egg-shaped rocks to form over time.
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