關於地球未解之謎的十大奇怪解釋(上)

Our Earth boasts many hidden powers. Most remain (at least partially) mysterious to us, but every day, a bit more is revealed. Some days, we discover the mechanics behind major events. At this rate, it should only take us 100 million years or so to shut the book on Earth.

我們的地球有着諸多未解之謎。大部分（至少某種程度上）仍然是個謎，但是我們每天都會破解一點點。終有一天我們會發現那些重大事件背後的真相，以目前探索地球奧祕的速度來看，還需要一億年左右我們纔可以揭開地球的神祕面紗。

Caused The Siberian Crater?

10.西伯利亞坑洞是怎樣形成的？

In August 2014, a gaping crater appeared on the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia. This was an interesting phenomenon, because other than sinkholes in Florida, giant holes usually don't appear randomly. Geologists traded theories on the origin of the crater, while paranoid skeptics suggested wacky explanations like meteors and extraterrestrial influences.

2014年8月，一個巨大的坑洞出現在西伯利亞的亞馬爾半島上。這是一個有趣的現象，因爲除了佛羅里達的溶洞，大型地洞一般不會突然出現。地質學家相互交流了研究坑洞成因的理論，而偏執的懷疑論者提出了一些怪異的理論，比如來自流星和地球之外的其他影響。

To solve the mystery, scientists erred on the side of sensibility and jumped into the bottomless maw. The craters (plural, as many others are being discovered) were not the result of advanced alien weaponry. A much more terrestrial and much less glorious explanation surfaced—methane. Measurements revealed that methane concentrations within the crater's bowels approached 10 percent. Air is normally about 0.000179 percent offending gas seeps up from thawing permafrost. And as global temperatures rise, clumps of methane bubble toward the surface faster and faster. Once the welling methane blobs reach a critical threshold, the gasses blast through the Siberian crust. This is supported by the mysterious Siberian pits' resemblance to explosion craters, rather than sinkholes or cavities formed through implosion. Debris strewn around the site are the telltale sign of mighty booms.

爲了揭開這個謎，科學家們表現得十分感性，跳進了深不可測的大洞。這些坑洞（包括其他逐漸被發現的洞口）並不是外星生物先進的武器造成的。有一種沒那麼耀眼奪目的解釋與地球聯繫更緊密，認爲其原因就是甲烷。有測量表明，火山口內部的甲烷含量高達10%。而空氣中甲烷的正常含量大約爲0.000179%。這種刺激性氣體從逐漸融化的永凍土中滲透出來，隨着全球氣候變暖，源源不斷的甲烷氣泡越來越快地向地表聚集。當這些不斷上冒的甲烷氣泡達到一個臨界值時，這些氣體就會爆炸，衝破西伯利亞地表。那些神祕的西伯利亞礦井就是佐證，它們與這些爆炸的坑洞極其相似，而與那些內陷而成的溶洞或者山洞不一樣。散落在坑洞周圍的碎片就是發生過猛烈爆炸的痕跡。

Causes Earthquake Lights?

9.地震光的成因是什麼？

Earthquake lights would be awesome events if not for the earthquake part of the equation. These mysterious flashes have been observed in various forms such as orbs and pillars. And many explanations have been volunteered, including, you guessed it, aliens. Scientists, however, theorized the cause was a perfect storm of piezoelectric forces and geologic trauma.

如果不是因爲地震會帶來極大破壞，地震光會是讓人感到驚喜的東西。這些神祕的光早已引起人們的注意，它們以各種形狀出現，比如球形和圓柱形。人們對地震光產生的原因提出了多種解釋，包括外星人。然而科學家們提出理論認爲，具有壓電效應的力和地質變化交互作用產生了巨大影響，形成了這些現象。

The true cause appears to be different. Instead of previously implicated quartz-rich rocks, earthquake lights seem to be caused by sparking volcanic rocks because igneous materials like basalts and gabbros are rife with pores and tiny defects. Imagine Earth as a pint of ice cream. The basalts and their ilk are the swirls of fudge, vertical ribbons of cooled magma that have solidified into veins of porous rock. These structures reach down for many miles and act as conduits for escaping electrical forces. When seismic waves plow through, they spark the rocks to life, transforming them into makeshift battery cells. The electrical buildup is then released psychedelically, in vibrant rainbow bands shooting from the ground. However, the volcanic rocks necessary to produce these trippy effects are rarely found in adequate amount. Therefore, earthquake lights are not often observed.

真正的原因有所不同。地震光似乎並不是由之前暗指的石英含量豐富的岩石形成的，而是由燃燒的火山岩造成的，因爲像玄武岩和輝長岩這一類的火成岩充滿了氣孔和細微的瑕疵。把地球想象成一品脫冰激凌。玄武岩這一類的岩石就像一卷卷軟糖，冷卻的岩漿就像垂直的絲帶，凝固在有氣孔的岩石中。這些結構向下綿延幾英里，像導體一樣起到導電的作用。地震波在層層岩石間傳播，點燃了岩石的生命，把它們變成了臨時的電池。然後這些帶電的岩石會釋放光芒，形成一種迷幻的效果。這時就會有明亮的彩虹般的光帶突然出現在地面上。然而，火山岩產生迷幻效果的場景很少出現。因此，地震光並不是經常被人們看見。

Hurricanes Help Invasive Species?

8.颶風能幫助入侵物種嗎?

Researchers from Nova Southeastern University have found an unlikely cause of the proliferation of invasive marine species—hurricanes. Lionfish have multiplied like crazy in recent years, ravaging indigenous ecosystems by voraciously gobbling up resources and producing many ugly babies. Overall, hurricanes have increased lionfish migrations by 45 percent and strengthened their numbers by 15 percent. The situation is so dire that landlubbers and seamen alike are implored to eat more lionfish.

諾瓦東南大學的研究人員發現了導致外來海洋生物擴散的罕見原因——颶風。近年來，獅子魚瘋狂地成倍增長，它們貪婪地吞噬資源，大量繁殖，破壞着當地的生態系統。總體而言，颶風導致發生遷移的獅子魚猛增了45％，並且使它們的數量增長了15％。面對如此可怕的情形，當地人和水手都被要求食用更多的獅子魚。

The Floridian straits served as lionfish ground zero, but since 1992, the invaders have been busy and are now found in worrying numbers throughout the Bahamas as well. Scientists were stumped. How were these normally sedentary creatures able to travel so freely? The answer is through no effort of their own—the fish were obliviously whisked away by shifting ocean currents. The oceanic conveyors responsible for the lionfish exodus were hurricanes, which redirect sea currents as they rumble through the tropics and subtropics. Researcher Matthew Johnston likens these pathways to express lanes on a ng ocean currents normally form a barrier and keep the lionfish sequestered from the ocean at large. But when a large storm rolls through, the barrier is switched off as strong northern flows are diverted eastward. Lionfish babies and eggs are swept away by these intense flows, and the invasion continues.

弗洛裏達州海峽是它們的聚集地，但是自1992年以來，它們頻繁入侵，數量多得令人堪憂，巴哈馬羣島也出現了這樣的情況。科學家們不知如何是好。這些通常長期生活在一個地方的動物是如何自由遷移的？從它們自身可以毫不費力地找到答案：獅子魚是被改變方向的洋流沖走的。颶風是把大量獅子魚轉移到其他地方的海上傳送帶。洋流發着低沉的聲音流過熱帶和亞熱帶時，颶風改變了它們的方向。研究員馬修·約翰斯頓把這些路徑比作高速公路上的車道。通常強勁的洋流會形成一個屏障，阻礙獅子魚大量進入海洋；但是當大風暴席捲而來，北邊的洋流轉而向東流去，屏障消失。小獅子魚和魚蛋被捲進強烈的海流，物種入侵便繼續擴散。

Was The Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami So Large?

7.爲什麼東日本地震海嘯如此之大？

The 9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake that devastated Japan in March 2011 was an absolute monster—the fifth-largest in recorded history. But the ensuing tsunami was uncharacteristically massive and impacted the island at an odd spot, scientifically speaking. The mystery persisted until NASA remembered it had two serendipitously aligned satellites that captured the tsunami in real-time. The chance of such a satellite being pointed in the right direction was one in 10 million. The ESA also had a set of eyes on the event. The data, oceanographic measurements accurate to the centimeter, revealed the devastation was caused by not one, but two tsunamis.

2011年3月襲擊日本東北部的9級大地震簡直就是惡魔，這是有史以來第五大地震。但是隨之而來的海嘯規模大得非比尋常，並且波及了一個位置奇特的島嶼。這一直是未解之謎，直到NASA偶然發現有兩顆衛星實時捕獲了海嘯的情況，謎團纔有了合理的解答。歐洲航天局也對此事件進行了跟進。海洋學的測量數據精確到了釐米，發現造成這次破壞的海嘯不是一個而是兩個。

The brutal earthquake launched two massive wave fronts at the island nation, and these two systems combined into what science has eloquently dubbed a “double tsunami.” The catastrophe offered researchers their first definitive glimpse at this destructive phenomenon. Twin tsunamis had been implicated in previous disasters. For example, in 1960, a Chilean tsunami crossed large swaths of the Pacific Ocean to take 200 lives in Hawaii and Japan. But now that researchers have witnessed a bona fide merger, they'll be able to predict future events, improve hazard maps, and devise better evacuation routes.

強烈的地震向日本傳遞了兩次大型的震波，並且兩次震動合二爲一，科學上形象地稱爲“雙重海嘯”。 “雙重海嘯”被證實在之前就引發過災難。例如，1960年，智利海嘯波及太平洋很大面積，並且帶走了夏威夷和日本的200條人命。但是如今，研究人員已經見證了整個合併過程，他們將能夠據此預測未來的事件，優化風險地圖，規劃更好的疏散路線。

's The Terrestrial Version Of A Black Hole?

6.何爲地球上的黑洞?

Black holes are the most exotic, unimaginable objects in the universe. Researchers have found an Earth analogue in South Atlantic vortices, which boast aquatic event horizons from which nothing escapes—at least until the dissolution of the vortex.

黑洞是宇宙中最奇特的並且令人難以想象的物體。觀察者們在大西洋南部的漩渦裏發現了一種與黑洞類似的東西。

The individual vortices are mere babies compared to their progenitor, the mighty Agulhas Current, which traverses the Indian Ocean before doubling back on itself. When the physics are just right, the looping current spawns little eddies that flow out into the ocean at large. These eddies have life spans of many months and are surprisingly similar to their feared cosmic counterparts. For one, they're surrounded by impregnable walls of swirling water, as black holes are enveloped by a shroud of orbiting photons and other celestial matter. Anything that ventures into this no man's land is assimilated into a singularity and is never heard from again. The oceanic eddies also feature central singularities from which materials cannot escape. In this way, the eddies form their own independent microenvironments. Researchers are keen to investigate how these whirlpools contribute to the circulation of marine detritus, tiny organisms, and waters of differing temperatures and salinities. Researchers are optimistic about finding similarly turbulent vortices produced by other terrestrial processes, such as eolian black holes whipped up by hurricanes.

這一個個漩渦和它們的祖先相比只不過是個小不點，強大的阿古拉斯海流在流回自己的發源地之前都會穿過印度洋。在物理環境合適的情況下,循環的洋流會產生小漩渦,而這些小漩渦一般會流入海洋。這些漩渦能存在幾個月時間，並且它們與宇宙裏那些讓人聞風喪膽的黑洞驚人的相似。舉例來說，它們被漩渦流堅固的水牆所環繞，就像黑洞被在軌道中運行的光子和其他外太空的物質所包圍一樣。任何物體想要冒險衝進這個“真空”般的地方都會被這個奇點捲入，並且不會再被找到。海洋中的漩渦也具有中心奇點的特徵，任何物質都無法逃脫。就是在這種情況下，那些漩渦構成了他們自己的一個小環境。觀察者們熱衷於研究這些漩渦是如何促進海里的碎石屑、微小生物、不同溫度及鹹度的海水進行循環的，並且對於能否找到其他地理活動形成的類似的湍急的漩渦，比如由颶風形成的風成黑洞，他們也很樂觀。

翻譯:步懶懶6+5 來源:前十網