科學家擔心新的超級火山可能在玻利維亞形成

科學家擔心新的超級火山可能在玻利維亞形成
Scientists fear new super-volcano may be forming in Bolivia
Posted on October 20, 2011
The Extinction Protocol
Translation by Autumnson Blog

October 20, 2011 – BOLIVIA - Should anyone ever decide to make a show called “CSI: Geology,” a group of scientists studying a mysterious and rapidly inflating South American volcano have got the perfect storyline.
2011年10月20日 - 玻利維亞 - 如果有人曾決定要做一個節目稱為“鑑証科：地質學”，一組研究一個南美火山神秘和迅速地膨脹的科學家，已得到完美的故事情節。
Uturuncu is a nearly 20,000-foot-high (6,000 meters) volcano in southwest Bolivia. Scientists recently discovered the volcano is inflating with astonishing speed. “I call this ‘volcano forensics,’ because we’re using so many different techniques to understand this phenomenon,” said Oregon State University professor Shan de Silva, a volcanologist on the research team.
Uturuncu是一個在玻利維亞西南近20,000英尺（6000米）高的火山，科學家最近發現火山以驚人的速度在膨脹， “我稱這為”火山取證，“因為我們正在使用這麼多不同的技術來理解這種現象，”美國俄勒岡州立大學教授一位研究小組的火山學家山德席爾瓦說。
Researchers realized about five years ago that the area below and around Uturuncu is steadily rising — blowing up like a giant balloon under a wide disc of land some 43 miles (70 kilometers) across. Satellite data revealed the region was inflating by 1 to 2 centimeters (less than an inch) per year and had been doing so for at least 20 years, when satellite observations began. “It’s one of the fastest uplifting volcanic areas on Earth,” de Silva told OurAmazingPlanet. “What we’re trying to do is understand why there is this rapid inflation, and from there we’ll try to understand what it’s going to lead to.” The peak is perched like a party hat at the center of the inflating area. ”It’s very circular. It’s like a big bull’s-eye,” said Jonathan Perkins, a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who recently presented work on the mountain at this year’s Geological Society of America meeting in Minneapolis.
研究人員大約五年前認知到， Uturuncu下面和周圍的地區正在穩步上升 - 像一個巨型氣球般吹漲，在一塊寬43英里（70公里）的橫跨碟形土地下面。衛星數據顯示，該地區每年漲1至2厘米（小於一英寸），及當衛星觀測開始已是這麼樣已至少20年。 “它是地球上其中之一最快抬升的火山地區，”德席爾瓦告訴 OurAmazingPlanet。 “我們正在試圖做的是了解為什麼有這快速膨脹，並從那裡我們試圖了解它將會導致什麼。”在膨脹區域的中心頂峰棲息得像舞會的帽， “它是非常圓的，就像一個大的飛鏢靶心，"加州大學聖克魯斯的一位研究生喬納森帕金斯說，他最近在明尼阿波利斯今年的美國地質學會會議上介紹山上的工作。
Scientists figured out from the inflation rate that the pocket of magma beneath the volcano was growing by about 27 cubic feet (1 cubic meter) per second. “That’s about 10 times faster than the standard rate of magma chamber growth you see for large volcanic systems,” Perkins told OurAmazingPlanet. “It’s not a volcano that we think is going to erupt at any moment, but it certainly is interesting, because the area was thought to be essentially dead,” de Silva said. Uturuncu is surrounded by one of the most dense concentrations of super-volcanoes on the planet, all of which fell silent some 1 million years ago.

Super-volcanoes get their name because they erupt with such power that they typically spew out 1,000 times more material, in sheer volume, than a volcano like Mount St. Helens. Modern human civilization has never witnessed such an event. The planet’s most recent super-volcanic eruption happened about 74,000 years ago in Indonesia. These eruptions are thought to have not only a local and regional impact, but potentially a global impact,” de Silva said. Uturuncu itself is in the same class as Mount St. Helens in Washington State, but its aggressive rise could indicate that a new super-volcano is on the way, or not? De Silva said it appears that local volcanoes hoard magma for about 300,000 years before they blow — and Uturuncu last erupted about 300,000 years ago. “So that’s why it’s important to know how long this has been going on,” he said. If this is a super-volcano, it could be one of the largest on the planet. –Our Amazing Planet

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