纪录片《恐龙灭绝真相》 第13期 小球体层（在线收听）

It was a Eureka moment, absolutely.

这是激动人心的时刻，绝对是。

We danced, we jumped up and down, and said we've got it.

我们跳舞，欢呼雀跃，我们找到它了。

They were excited because these spherules were eight metres below where any had been found before.

他们激动是因为这些小球体所在的位置比之前找到的地方低了8米。

In geology, lower normally means further back in time,

在地质学上，位置低一般意味着年代更为久远，

so for them it suggested an entirely different explanation for the whole rock formation and the extinction of the dinosaurs.

所以在他们看来，所有这些岩石的形成原因只能是完全不同的另一种解释，当然还有恐龙灭绝的原因。

It was all to do with time.

这一切都与时间有关。

After the Chicxulub impact, the spherules settled on the sea floor within minutes.

希克苏鲁伯大碰撞后，小球体几分钟内便落到海底。

These were the spherules just discovered by Doctor Keller.

它们就是Keller博士发现的小球体层。

On top of the spherules, there seemed to have been a period of normal sedimentation, eight metres of mud had built up.

小球体层上面似乎有一个正常沉淀的时期，堆积了8米厚的泥沙。

According to Keller and Stinnesbeck, this would have taken two hundred and seventy thousand years.

按照Keller和Stinnesbeck的说法，这得经过27万年的时光。

Next came the limestone layer, this too could have taken thousands of years to form.

接下来便是石灰岩层，它也需要经过上千年才能形成。

Only then came the sand, washed in to form the sandstone.

然后才轮到沙子，冲积到此形成沙岩。

Then those fine grained layers built up by sedimentation, that could have taken centuries.

接着那些细颗粒层便因为沉积作用而开始形成，这需要经历几个世纪。

Then worms apparently had months, maybe years in which to colonise some of the layers.

后来蠕虫显然在某些地层中住了几个月，甚至可能是几年。

And only then, at the very top came the Iridium layer, which coincided with the extinction of the dinosaurs.

最后才轮到见证恐龙灭绝的顶部铱元素层。

But by now Keller and Stinnesbeck calculated that three hundred thousand years had passed since the Chicxulub impact.

不过根据Keller和Stinnesbeck的计算，此时距希克苏鲁伯大碰撞已过去了30万年。