The mystery of Thien Tri lake surrounds the whole mountain, there is no source of water flowing in, reserves of 2 billion tons

According to scientists, surrounding Thien Tri Lake are mountain ranges, with no water source but water reserves of more than 2 billion tons.

In the world, there are many interesting things that always exist that scientists still cannot explain. And Thien Tri Lake in Changbai Mountain, China is one of such wonders. Thien Tri Lake is not only famous for its beautiful scenery, but there are still many "mysteries" around it that attract many tourists to visit.

Unexpected "appearance"

Thien Tri Lake was also known in ancient times as Youmen, Tumen, Wenliang and Dragon Tan. Thien Tri Lake has an extremely wonderful beauty with deep blue water in the middle of the forest and snow-covered mountains running around. Here, the scenery is like being in a fairyland. Every new season, the scenery of Thien Tri Lake changes again, the spring is brilliant, the summer is green, the autumn is full of red and yellow, and the winter is white and alluring. Thanks to this beauty, it was named Thien Tri Lake which means Lake of Heaven.

Thien Tri Lake is located in the caldera of the Changbai Mountains, China. (Photo: Baidu)

A special feature of Thien Tri lake is its location. It is located on the caldera at the top of the Changbai Range between the border between Korea and China. Changbai Mountain is a stratovolcano with its apex amputated by a large volcanic crater about 5km in diameter and 850m deep. The valley is Thien Tri lake.

According to documents left behind, the caldera of the mountain was created in 946 BC by the giant eruption (VEI 7) "Millennium" or "Tianchi". It is one of the most violent eruptions of the past 5,000 years, comparable to the 180 AD eruption of Lake Taupo and the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora. The eruption, whose volcanic debris has been found in the southern region of Hokkaidō, Japan and as far as Greenland, destroyed much of the volcano's summit, leaving a crater that is today filled with Heaven. Tri.

According to the Tokyo history books, in 946 BC, the city of Kaesong suddenly heard "thunder from the sky drum" (used to describe the explosion from the millennium eruption). Then this noise again appeared 450 km south of the ancient Korean capital of the volcano, making the Goryeo emperor so scared that he immediately released those who were being held by the court.

According to the book "History of Heungboksa Temple", on November 3 of the same year, in the city of Nara (Japan) about 1,100 km east of the mountain, a "white ash rain" event occurred. 3 months later on February 7, 947 BC, once again, people heard the "drum thunder" in the city of Kyoto (Japan).

In Manchu mythology, historians used words to describe the Tianwanfeng eruption at Changbai Mountain such as "fire dragon, fire demon or heavenly fire".

The caldera of the mountain was created in 946 by the massive eruption (VEI 7) "Millennium" or "Tianchi". (Photo: Baidu)

Archaeologists also found evidence of eruptions through carbonized wood in the chips of Heifengkou. Upon examination they are all dated to around 946 BC.

Thien Tri Lake is located at an altitude of 2154m above sea level. The lake's surface area is 9.82km2 with the maximum depth of 384m, the average depth of 204m. With this size, Thien Tri Lake has become the deepest mountain lake in the world today.

Because Thien Tri Lake is located at high latitudes, the lake water is always cold, from mid-October to mid-June every year, the lake water is always frozen up to 1m thick. Even in summer, the temperature of the lake water is from 8 to 10 degrees Celsius. Changbai Mountain has a high altitude, on the top of the mountain, there are two air currents from Siberia and the Pacific Ocean that meet, so the humidity of the lake is high. Thien Tri lake is higher than the foothill area.

Doubts of scientists

Tianchi Lake has a freshwater reserve of more than 2 billion tons, with such a large volume of water that it can supply the entire population of Beijing for 22 months. Many people who visit Thien Tri Lake say that the water of the lake is one of the clearest in the world, can be compared to crystal clear, but strangely, it has almost no aquatic species.

Water flows out of the lake in the north and near the exit is a 70m high waterfall. But, even more strange is that they could not find the beginning of the source of water flowing into Thien Tri Lake. The reason they say that is because Thien Tri Lake is surrounded by mountains, it seems that the water is somehow "mystical" flowing into the lake.

Thien Tri Lake is surrounded by mountains, but no one knows where the water comes from. (Photo: Baidu)

The annual rainfall in Thien Tri lake basin is 43 million m3 and the average annual water output is 123 million m3. This means that more than 65% of the water in Changbai Mountain's Tianchi Lake is not collected from rainwater. Moreover, Thien Tri Lake also continuously absorbs sunlight and evaporates, but for a long time it is always full of water and has never been reduced.

Thien Tri Lake is located at an altitude of more than 2,100 m above sea level. It seems that only the mountains surrounding Thien Tri's basin can pump water into the lake. Basically, it is impossible for water to flow from other places to Thien Tri Lake. So where does the 80 million m3 of water in Thien Tri Lake come from?

The answer is full of surprises

From this wonder, scientists have found the answer. Finally, they hypothesized that the water source of Thien Tri Lake mainly came from a very special place. Chen Jiansheng, a professor at Hohai University, China hypothesized that most of the water in Tianchi Lake comes from the Qinghai Plateau of Tibet (the Tibetan Plateau).

However, the theory has faced many objections because the Tibetan Plateau is thousands of kilometers away from Changbai Mountain and Thien Tri Lake and has absolutely no surface flow. Even if there is an underground river, it can't be that long!

However, Professor Chen Jiansheng proposed the theory of deep circulation of groundwater. He thinks that the Earth's crust will expand when volcanoes erupt lava and contract when it cools. The expansion and contraction have left cracks underground. The depth of these fissures can be as deep as 15km below the ground. And according to him, water on mountains or plateaus will flow through these cracks to lower altitudes under the influence of Earth's gravity.

Simulation diagram of groundwater from the Qing Dynasty plateau to Thien Tri lake. (Photo: Baidu)

In July 2021, Professor Chen Jiansheng and a number of scholars from WestLake University, the University of California and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology published a study titled "Disappearing water from the upper Jiangtang basin Tibetan Plateau" in the Journal of Earth Science. According to this study, the team of experts discovered that the water of many rivers passes through the fault of Khuong Duong basin in the south-north direction. Part of it has disappeared. They estimated that the annual water loss amounted to 54 billion m3, equivalent to the annual flow of the Yellow River.

They also confirmed that after the groundwater in the Jiangtang basin entered the rift leading to the northern and eastern regions of the Tibetan Plateau. Another part it flows into Thien Tri Lake of Changbai Mountain.

It turns out that by studying groundwater in the basalt, the team discovered that there are natural water currents in the basalt that connect to the crater. Streams of water formed by lava flows cause the Earth's crust to expand and contract as it cools. Water from the ground seeping down will also flow through the cracks and under the effect of suction, groundwater at higher places will flow to lower areas.

The elevation of Tianchi Lake in Changbai Mountain is nearly 2,200m but it is still much lower than the elevation of Jiangtang area of ​​Tibet. And according to the group of experts, it is entirely possible for Thien Tri Lake to get water from the Tibetan Plateau.

Rumors about the mysterious "water monster" in Thien Tri Lake

Thien Tri Lake is also famous for its mysterious "water monster" stories that make people curious. According to oral stories, on August 23, 2003, a group of tourists with more than 40 people playing in Thien Tri Lake once saw a black creature, about 3m long, swimming from the south bank to the north bank. dive down and disappear. Nearly a month before, about 20 "monsters" of Thien Tri Lake made a parade lasting about 50 minutes.

Two years later, on 07/07, a person named Trinh Truong Xuan, residing in Phu Tung district, Jilin province, while walking around Thien Tri lake, happened to notice a strange black shadow emerging on the lake surface. immediately took the camera. Although some people think it is just a driftwood log, but Mr. Trinh claims to have captured a picture of a strange creature in Thien Tri Lake.

The image of the "water monster" was taken at Thien Tri Lake.

On July 21, 2005, the "monster" reappeared on the north bank and broke the calm water of Thien Tri Lake more than 10 days later. According to Mr. Hoang Tuong Dong, one person had the opportunity to see the "monster" of Thien Tri lake with their own eyes, the head and neck of the "water monster" protruding above the water surface was over 2 meters high.

In 2013, a number of rather poor quality photos were circulated on social networks that are believed to be of the monster at Thien Tri Lake, once again raising attention to the existence of this creature. And there are also many rumors surrounding the creature called "water monster". However, scientists said, Thien Tri lake has abundant rainfall, but due to low oxygen concentration in water, plus arid surroundings, sparse vegetation make this place unsuitable for conditions. for fish to live. The results of a survey also show that Thien Tri Lake has no vertebrates. Therefore, the story of the "water monster" of Thien Tri lake may just be unfounded rumors.