Long-Feared Volcanoes Help the Planet 长久以来让人恐惧的火山对地球有益

Mount Erebus is the southernmost active volcano in the world. More people have been to space than have traveled to Antarctica and set foot on Mount Erebus.

That is for good reason. When humans first climbed it in the early 1900s， the journey involved violent winds， occasional frostbite and bowls of “hoosh” （a potent， greasy combination of boiled， dehydrated beef and fat， which would not go bad）.

Clive Oppenheimer， a professor of volcanology at Cambridge University， has spent 13 seasons—cumulatively an entire year of his life—living near the summit of Mount Erebus.

In Mountains of Fire he regales readers with gripping stories of his travels， as well as those of adventurers past. He does not just describe what the volcanoes look like， but how they feel and what they mean to the people who encounter them.

埃里伯斯火山是世界上最南端的活火山。但去过太空的人比去过南极洲的埃里伯斯火山的人还多。

这不足为奇。20世纪初，人类首次攀登埃里伯斯火山，攀登途中狂风大作，攀登者时不时会生冻疮，只能靠一碗碗“杂锅菜”（一种由不易变质的脱水牛肉和食用油煮沸制成的油乎乎的饱腹浓汤）果腹。

英国剑桥大学火山学教授克莱夫·奥本海默在埃里伯斯火山顶峰附近居住考察了13次，累计起来有一整年的时间。

在《火之山》一书中，他向读者讲述了自己以及历代探险家的扣人心弦的旅行故事。他不只描述了火山的样貌，还讲述了火山带给人的感受及其对遇见火山的人来说意味着什么。

A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planet. Through that opening， molten rock and hot gases escape. This can be a sudden and thunderous puff of ash and steam， or it can be a protracted ooze of lava， razing everything in its path. Perhaps because of volcanoes’ danger， their longevity and importance are often overlooked.

But they live billions of years， and the gases they release come from the inside of the Earth. They are probably the very gases that created Earth’s atmosphere. Volcanoes “made the world fit for human purpose”， Dr Oppenheimer writes.

In total Dr Oppenheimer has visited more than a hundred different volcanoes. Few people have come into contact with as many fiery mountains as he has. Yet millions live close to them： around 800 million people have their home within 100 km of an active volcano.

Both awful and awesome， volcanoes have much more to offer than dramatic geological events， which Dr Oppenheimer documented in his book， Eruptions that Shook the World. Mountains of Fire is a love letter to volcanoes and an investigation into all the ways that they have and continue to sustain humanity—spiritually and scientifically.

一座火山就是地壳上的一个裂口。熔岩和高温气体从这个裂口中喷涌而出。有时候是突然而剧烈地喷射火山灰和蒸汽，有时候是不断地涌出熔岩，夷平所经之处的一切。也许是因为火山的危险性，它们的长期存在和重要性往往被忽视。

但这些火山已经存在了几十亿年，它们释放的气体来自地球内部。可能正是这些气体形成了地球的大气层。奥本海默写道，火山“把地球改造成了适合人类居住的地方”。

奥本海默总计考察了超过100座不同的火山。很少有人像他一样与这么多火山有过接触。然而，有很多人却生活在火山附近：大约有8亿人在距离活火山100千米以内的地方生活。

火山既可怕又可叹，它们带来的远不只是剧烈的地质运动，奥本海默在他的著作《那些震撼世界的火山爆发》中记录了这些运动。《火之山》是一封写给火山的情书，也是一份调查报告，研究火山已经并将继续支撑人类存续的方方面面——既有精神上的，也有科学上的。

Volcanic regions are hotbeds of biodiversity. The lava islands of the Galapagos are textbook examples of evolution in action. Volcanic eruptions can act as a reset button; as lava hardens and begins to erode over the course of years or centuries， the released nutrients and minerals create rich soil.

Some of the world’s productive regions for farming， such as in Indonesia and Central America， owe their abundance to eruptions past. Volcanoes can also help build up underground aquifers. For example， without the Tibesti and its five volcanoes in the north of Chad and in southern Libya， the eastern Sahara would be even more arid.

Science still has a lot to learn from the tiny organisms that live in and near volcanoes， in the harshest environments， such as the hot-acid crater lake of Ijen on Java. Some might one day find a use for these micro-organisms in medicine or air purification.

Volcanoes also produce geothermal energy， which accounts for significant shares of electricity supply in a growing number of countries， including El Salvador， Kenya and New Zealand.

The most common type of volcanic rock， basalt， is capable of permanently trapping carbon dioxide， making volcanoes an important player in the game of carbon capture and storage. Long viewed as a fearsome enemy of civilization， volcanoes may yet become a savior in some respects.

火山地区是生物多样性的温床。加拉帕戈斯群岛中的那些熔岩岛就是活生生的关于进化论的教科书案例。火山爆发可以起到重置的作用：当熔岩凝固并开始长年累月的侵蚀，释放出的养分和矿物质就形成了肥沃的土壤。

世界上一些富饶的农业地区（如印度尼西亚和中美洲的一些农业地区）就得益于过去的火山爆发。火山还有助于形成地下蓄水层。例如，如果没有乍得以北、利比亚以南的提贝斯提区和位于此地的五座火山，撒哈拉沙漠东部还会更加干燥。

存在于火山及其附近的微型生物仍有许多未解之谜，有待科学探究。它们在最恶劣的环境中生存，例如爪哇岛伊真火山的热酸性火山湖。也许有一天，人们会发现这些微生物在医药或空气净化方面的用途。

火山还会产生地热，地热发电占相当比例的国家正越来越多，包括萨尔瓦多、肯尼亚和新西兰。

最常见的火山岩——玄武岩——能永久地封存二氧化碳，因此火山在碳捕获和储存方面扮演着重要的角色。火山一直被视为文明的可怕敌人，但火山在某些方面可能会成为人类的救星。