Greg Retallack was one of those involved in the search.
Greg Retallack是其中一位搜尋者。
He concentrated his efforts in Antarctica.
他的工作重點是在南極洲。
There was definitely a missing piece to this whole thing,
整件事中的確有一片空白,
and we struggled with, to find out what that was and the clue was in front of us actually for quite some time.
我們致力于找出它的真相,很多時候線索就擺在我們眼前。
In the middle 1990s, he led an expedition to see what was there.
上世紀90年代中期,他帶領一支探險隊前往考察。
It was really the trip of a lifetime and it was something I'd wanted to do for about 15 years before.
這是一生中最難忘的一次旅行,也是我15年前最想做的事。
The team spent weeks exploring the Permian rocks,
隊員們一連幾周都在考察二疊紀巖層,
but one bed of rock in particular attracted his attention.
尤其是有一個巖床引起了他的注意。
We knew it was the very latest Permian bed,
它是二疊紀末期的巖床,
and inside that bed there were quartz grains that had some very unusual features.
巖床中的石英顆粒具有很不尋常的特征。
Quartz is the most common crystal on earth.
石英是地球上最常見的晶體。
It's most frequently white and translucent.
通常是白色半透明的。
Most of the quartz is just like this grain that I'm on now and it's a very clear grain.
大部分石英就像我手頭上這些顆粒一樣,是非常純凈的顆粒。
Looking through the microscope, the light shines through it brightly, it looks white.
在顯微鏡下顯得亮閃閃的,純白無比。
But some of these crystals weren't white or clear.
但是有些石英晶體既不白也不透明。