評論
打印
Humanity inscribes itself into the rock record of Earth's history.
人類確實把自己銘刻到了紀錄地球歷史的石碑上。
People now move more sediment than all the world's rivers combined.
人們現在移動的沉積物量比所有現存河流所加起來的總和還要多。
Fossil fuel burning has changed the composition of the atmosphere.
化石燃料燃燒已經改變了大氣成分。
Everywhere are traces of the sudden appearance of rare radioactive elements like plutonium, a legacy of nuclear weapons.
到處都有跡可循的是諸如核武器或燃料等設備中才涉及到的钚這類放射性元素的突然微量出現。
And now there's even a new type of rock—that people brought into existence.
現在甚至還發現有一種新型巖石—這全都是經由人類之手所締造。
Geologists found the novel stone on the beaches of Hawaii.
地理學家們在夏威夷海灘上發現了一種新石塊。
Its constituents include solids of volcanic origin, sand, shells and, yes, plastic.
它的成分里面有火山源，沙粒，貝殼以及，是的，還有塑料。
The discoverers dubbed the material plastiglomerate.
發現者將它的命名為塑料聚塊。
The finding is in the journal GSA Today, published by the Geological Society of America.
這項研究已發表在美國地理科學協會主辦的《今日地理學》期刊上。
People's campfires on the beach inadvertently helped create plastiglomerate.
人們在海邊露營的篝火無意中促進了這種塑料團塊的形成。
Some plastic, from a soda bottle, fishing line or a plethora of other possible polymeric sources, found itself near the fire and melted.
瓶裝蘇達飲料，魚線或者其它可能含有多聚物成分的塑料，被遺棄在篝火邊之后融化掉。
The resultant sticky goo cemented all the disparate bits together.
結果導致產生的黏性物質彼此之間相互融合。
The new substance appears to be persistent, destined to stick around for a long, long time.
這種新物質貌似性質很穩定，黏性長達很長一段時間。
And that's the kind of techno-fossil that may prove to be a hallmark of the Anthropocene age, this time of humanity shaping the planet.
而就是這種技術導致的化石類物質也許能作為地球人類時代存在過的標記，我們人類影響著自己所生活的這顆星球。
