The Mystery of Antarcticas Blood Falls 南極血瀑布之謎

 

精英翻譯社轉自https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0062/337066/web/

 

Scientists have finally discovered the source of the Blood Falls.

科學家終於揭曉血瀑布的起源。

 

  Blood Falls is a unique natural wonder in Antarctica. Like its name suggests, this slow-moving waterfall looks like a river of blood as it flows out of a glacier. When it was discovered, explorers believed the strange color to be from a special kind of algae. Recently, however, scientists discovered the truth: the water is very high in iron.

血瀑布堪為南極洲獨特的天然奇觀。如同其名,這緩慢移動的瀑布從冰河湧出時宛如一條鮮血河流。這個瀑布剛被發現時,探險家們認為這種奇怪顏色源於某種特殊的藻類。但直到最近,科學家才發現真相 ── 水中的含鐵量相當高。

 

  When iron hits air, it starts to rust, giving the water its blood red color. Scientists also discovered the source of the fallsan ancient lake under the glacier. Even though it is very cold under the ice, the water in the lake stays liquid from the pressure of the glacier pressing down on it. It can take millions of years for the water to leave the underground lake. This gives the lake lots of time to pick up iron that gives the water its special color.

  鐵離子接觸到空氣後,會開始生鏽,使水呈現血紅色澤。科學家也發現了瀑布的發源地為一個位於冰河下方的古老湖泊。儘管在冰層下方十分地寒冷,但湖水仍因冰河對其往下施加的壓力而保持液態。水要流出這座地下湖泊得花上數百萬年。而這提供了湖泊相當多的時間來吸收給予水份特殊光澤的鐵。

 

  Though Blood Falls is not caused by algae, there are still microbes living under the glacier. Scientists are now studying how the microbes can survive these extreme conditions. They hope to learn if there could be life in places like Jupiters moon, Europa, or under the ice on Mars, which both have similar conditions.

  雖然血瀑布不是藻類造成的,但仍有微生物生存於冰河下方。科學家正在研究這些微生物如何於這些極端環境下生存。他們希望得知於木星的衛星 ── 歐羅巴(編按:又稱木衛二),或是於火星的冰層下方這些擁有類似環境的地方是否擁有生命的跡象。

arrow
arrow
    全站熱搜

    ests24331677 發表在 痞客邦 留言(0) 人氣()