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(单词翻译)
This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute.
The Earth’s crust is old. Billions of years old. So old that it’s nearly impossible to imagine. And now scientists have discovered what may be the oldest whole rocks ever known. Geologists1 at Carnegie Mellon University published the results of the research in the September 26th issue of the journal Science.
The rocks come from an area of the Hudson Bay in northern Quebec. In 2001 the geologists identified the site as a possible repository of very old rocks. It is made up of folds of volcanic2 and what are called metasedentary rocks. And it’s surrounded by three-and-a-half-billion-year-old tonalite.
Researchers collected rocks and measured minute isotopic3 variations in rare earth elements called neodymium and samarium. According to dating techniques, the rocks could be 4.28 billion years old. It’s rare to find rocks that date back to when the Earth’s mantle4 was forming. It was quite a tumultuous time, and most rocks were smashed up into tiny pieces again and again. Learning more about these whole rocks could help us gain a better understanding of the very beginnings of our planet.
Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber.
1 geologists | |
地质学家,地质学者( geologist的名词复数 ) | |
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2 volcanic | |
adj.火山的;象火山的;由火山引起的 | |
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3 isotopic | |
adj.同位素的,合痕的 | |
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4 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
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