万物简史 第320期:美丽而危险(3)
时间：2017-11-27 08:14:55
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Imagine a pile of TNT about the size of Rhode Island and reaching eight miles into the sky, to about the height of the highest cirrus clouds, 想像一下，有一堆TNT，面积相当于英国的一个郡，伸向13公里高的天空，达到了最高的卷云的高度，
and you have some idea of what visitors to Yellowstone are
shuffling1 around on top of. 你就会大体知道黄石公园的游客们是在什么东西上面漫步。
The pressure that such a pool of magma exerts on the crust above has lifted Yellowstone 这样的一池岩浆对上面的地壳所产生的压力，已经把黄石公园及其周围地区顶了起来，
and about three hundred miles of surrounding territory about 1,700 feet higher than they would otherwise be. 使其比本来所处的位置高出大约半公里。
If it blew, the
cataclysm2 is pretty well beyond imagining. 要是发生爆炸，这场灾难简直是难以想像的。
According to Professor Bill McGuire of University College London, "you wouldn't be able to get within a thousand kilometers of it" while it was erupting. 伦敦大学院的比尔·麦圭尔说，一旦爆发，“你无法走到离它1000公里以内的地方”。
The consequences that followed would be even worse. 造成的结果也许更加糟糕。
Superplumes of the type on which Yellowstone sits are rather like martini glasses—thin on the way up, 黄石公园所在的几处超级热柱，很像马提尼酒杯，越往上越细，
but spreading out as they near the surface to create vast bowls of
unstable3 magma. 但到了接近地面的地方就向外张开，变成盛着不稳定岩浆的许多“大碗”。
Some of these bowls can be up to 1,200 miles across. 有的“大碗”的直径可达1900公里。
According to theories, they don't always erupt explosively but sometimes burst
forth4 in a vast, continuous outpouring—a flood—of molten rock, 根据目前的理论，超级热柱并不总是猛烈爆发，有时候只是源源不断地喷出大量熔岩，
such as with the Deccan Traps in India sixty-five million years ago. 就像6500万年前发生在印度德干暗色岩区的情况。
These covered an area of 200,000 square miles 超级热柱占地50万平方公里，
and probably contributed to the
demise5 of the dinosaurs—they certainly didn't help—with their
noxious6 outgassings. 喷出的毒气很可能对恐龙的灭绝起了作用——肯定不会起好作用。
Superplumes may also be responsible for the
rifts7 that cause continents to break up. 超级热柱也许还要对造成大陆破裂的裂缝负责。
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