How I found a mythical boiling river in the Amazon | Andrés Ruzo

翻译人员: Tingting Zhong 校对人员: alice leong

小时候，我住在利马；

As a boy in Lima,

my grandfather told me a legend

爷爷给我讲了一个关于-

of the Spanish conquest of Peru.

西班牙征服秘鲁的传奇故事。

印加帝国的末代皇帝阿塔瓦尔帕，被抓住并处死。

Atahualpa, emperor of the Inca, had been captured and killed.

Pizarro and his conquistadors had grown rich,

皮萨罗和征服者们变得富有起来，

and tales of their conquest and glory had reached Spain

他们攻克秘鲁的传说和赞颂传到了西班牙，

and was bringing new waves of Spaniards, hungry for gold and glory.

吸引了一批西班牙人来此淘金。

他们去到镇子里，问印加人：

They would go into towns and ask the Inca,

"Where's another civilization we can conquer? Where's more gold?"

“还有哪个文明没被攻克？还有哪里有黄金？”

And the Inca, out of vengeance, told them,

而出于报复，印加人就告诉他们：

"Go to the Amazon.

“去亚马逊，

You'll find all the gold you want there.

那里有挖不完的黄金”。

In fact, there is a city called Paititi -- El Dorado in Spanish --

事实上，那里有一个叫做‘帕依提提’ ——西班牙语叫El Dorado的城市

是由黄金建成的”。

made entirely of gold."

The Spanish set off into the jungle,

于是这些西班牙人动身前往那片丛林，

but the few that return come back with stories,

结果只有少数人带着故事回来了，

stories of powerful shamans,

他们带回了关于强大的萨满巫师的故事，

of warriors with poisoned arrows,

关于拿着毒箭的武士的故事，

of trees so tall they blotted out the sun,

关于那里的树太高以至遮住了阳光的故事，

spiders that ate birds, snakes that swallowed men whole

关于吃鸟的蜘蛛、能够吞下一整个人的大蛇，

and a river that boiled.

以及一条沸腾的河流的故事。

All this became a childhood memory.

所有这些都成为了我的童年记忆。

And years passed.

多年过去了，

I'm working on my PhD at SMU,

我到了南方为理公会大学（SMU）攻读博士学位，

trying to understand Peru's geothermal energy potential,

当我试着了解秘鲁的地热能源潜力时，

when I remember this legend,

我想到了这个传说，

and I began asking that question.

于是想到了一个问题。

Could the boiling river exist?

传说中的那条沸腾的河流真的存在吗？

我咨询了一些同僚，他们来自各大高校，

I asked colleagues from universities,

the government,

政府部门，

oil, gas and mining companies,

石油、天然气和矿业公司，

所有人的答案都是“不”。

and the answer was a unanimous no.

And this makes sense.

这个答案是有道理的。

因为沸腾的河流的确存在，

You see, boiling rivers do exist in the world,

but they're generally associated with volcanoes.

但通常是在火山旁。

You need a powerful heat source

只有一个强大的热源，

to produce such a large geothermal manifestation.

才制造出如此大的地热现象。

And as you can see from the red dots here, which are volcanoes,

你看到的这些红点，它们代表火山，

we don't have volcanoes in the Amazon,

而在亚马逊是没有火山的，

nor in most of Peru.

秘鲁的大部分地区也没有火山。

所以得出的结论为：这片区域看不到沸腾的河流。

So it follows: We should not expect to see a boiling river.

Telling this same story at a family dinner,

在一次家庭聚餐上我又讲了这个故事，

my aunt tells me,

然后我的阿姨告诉我，

"But no, Andrés, I've been there. I've swum in that river."

“不，安德烈，我去过那，我在那条河里游过泳”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Then my uncle jumps in.

然后我叔叔也加入了讨论，

"No, Andrés, she's not kidding.

“真的，安德烈，她没有开玩笑，

只有在大雨过后，才能在里面游泳，

You see, you can only swim in it after a very heavy rain,

它被一位强大的萨满巫师保护着，

and it's protected by a powerful shaman.

Your aunt, she's friends with his wife."

而你的阿姨，跟他的妻子是朋友”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

“什么？”

"¿Cómo?" ["Huh?"]

You know, despite all my scientific skepticism,

尽管我作为科学家，对此表示怀疑，

I found myself hiking into the jungle, guided by my aunt,

还是在我的阿姨带领下，踏上了那片丛林，

over 700 kilometers away from the nearest volcanic center,

那里距最近的火山口有700公里，

and well, honestly, mentally preparing myself

坦白说，我已经做好了见证那条传奇的

to behold the legendary "warm stream of the Amazon."

“亚马逊暖流” 的心理准备了。

But then ...

但是，紧接着，

I heard something,

我听到一些声响，

a low surge

随着我们逐步走进，

that got louder and louder

一股低涌-

as we came closer.

变得越来越响彻。

It sounded like ocean waves constantly crashing,

就像海浪不停的冲击一样，

and as we got closer, I saw smoke, vapor, coming up through the trees.

而当我们走近时， 我看到烟雾和蒸汽从树林中冒出。

And then, I saw this.

不久，我看到了这个。

I immediately grabbed for my thermometer,

我立马拿起了温度计，

and the average temperatures in the river

测量到这条河流的平均温度为

were 86 degrees C.

86℃。

This is not quite the 100-degree C boiling

虽然这并没有达到100℃的沸点，

but definitely close enough.

但也很接近了。

The river flowed hot and fast.

这条高温河水流湍急。

I followed it upriver and was led by, actually, the shaman's apprentice

在这位萨满大师徒弟的带领下，我沿河而上，

to the most sacred site on the river.

去往这条河最神圣的地点。

And this is what's bizarre --

奇妙的事情发生了，

这条河的起点是冷流。

It starts off as a cold stream.

And here, at this site,

而这个地方，

is the home of the Yacumama,

是亚库马马的故乡，

mother of the waters, a giant serpent spirit

亚库马马是河之母，是创造冷热水的

who births hot and cold water.

巨大的蛇灵。

而在这里，我们找到了一处热泉，

And here we find a hot spring,

mixing with cold stream water underneath her protective motherly jaws

同受她保护的河口下的冷流混合在一起，

and thus bringing their legends to life.

将这些传说变为现实。

The next morning, I woke up and --

第二天早上，当我醒来的时候-

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I asked for tea.

我说想喝杯茶。

I was handed a mug, a tea bag

于是有人递给我一个马克杯，一个茶包，

and, well, pointed towards the river.

然后，指着那条河。

让我惊讶的是， 河水是如此的清澈，喝起来也很可口，

To my surprise, the water was clean and had a pleasant taste,

which is a little weird for geothermal systems.

这对于地热系统来说是有点异常的。

What was amazing

更神奇的一点是，

本地人似乎一直都知道有这么个地方，

is that the locals had always known about this place,

而我也绝不是第一个发现此地的外来人。

and that I was by no means the first outsider to see it.

It was just part of their everyday life.

这些都是他们的家常便饭。

他们饮用河里的水；

They drink its water.

They take in its vapor.

享用这些蒸汽；

They cook with it,

用河水烹饪；

清洁，

clean with it,

even make their medicines with it.

甚至用这些河水来制药。

我见到了萨满大师，

I met the shaman,

and he seemed like an extension of the river and his jungle.

似乎他也成了这条河和丛林的一部分。

He asked for my intentions

他询问我的来意，

and listened carefully.

用心倾听。

Then, to my tremendous relief --

不久，我便感到压力减轻了--

I was freaking out, to be honest with you --

老实告诉你，我当时可吓坏了--

a smile began to snake across his face, and he just laughed.

他嘴角微微上扬，他笑了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I had received the shaman's blessing to study the river,

我对这条河的研究得到了萨满大师的祝福，

on the condition that after I take the water samples

他只有一点要求，那便是待我取样

and analyze them in my lab,

并带回实验室分析后，

wherever I was in the world,

不管我在世界的哪一个角落，

that I pour the waters back into the ground

我要把这些水倒回地上，

萨满大师说，

so that, as the shaman said,

这样这些水便能回到河流里。

the waters could find their way back home.

I've been back every year since that first visit in 2011,

2011年的勘测后，我每年都会回去，

and the fieldwork has been exhilarating,

我的勘测结果甚是喜人，

demanding and at times dangerous.

有些时候也颇有些危险和挑战。

One story was even featured in National Geographic Magazine.

我的故事甚至被刊登到了《国家地理》这本杂志上。

我被困在了和一张纸一样大小的石头上，

I was trapped on a small rock about the size of a sheet of paper

in sandals and board shorts,

穿着凉鞋和运动短裤，

in between an 80 degree C river

置身于80℃的河水

and a hot spring that, well, looked like this, close to boiling.

和接近沸点的温泉中。

不仅如此，那还是在亚马逊雨林。

And on top of that, it was Amazon rain forest.

Pshh, pouring rain, couldn't see a thing.

那是倾盆大雨，什么也看不见。

The temperature differential made it all white. It was a whiteout.

温差使得周围的一切看起来都是白色的。

Intense.

局势很紧张。

现在，经过多年的研究，

Now, after years of work,

I'll soon be submitting my geophysical and geochemical studies for publication.

我即将发表关于地球物理和化学的论文。

今天站在TED的舞台上，我想和大家一起分享，

And I'd like to share, today, with all of you here, on the TED stage,

这也是我首次揭露其中的一些发现。

for the first time, some of these discoveries.

Well, first off, it's not a legend.

首先，这并不是一个传说。

Surprise!

意想不到吧！

(Laughter)

（笑声）

在我最初开始这项研究的时候，

When I first started the research,

the satellite imagery was too low-resolution to be meaningful.

有关的卫星图像像素很低，几乎没什么用。

There were just no good maps.

那时就没什么高质量的地图。

Thanks to the support of the Google Earth team,

多亏了谷歌地球这个团队，

现在我有了这个。

I now have this.

Not only that, the indigenous name of the river, Shanay-timpishka,

不仅如此，这条河的本名Shanay-timpishka，

"boiled with the heat of the sun,"

"由太阳烧开的河“

indicating that I'm not the first to wonder why the river boils,

说明我并不是第一个对这条河沸腾感到好奇的人，

and showing that humanity has always sought to explain

也说明了人类一直以来都尝试着去解释

the world around us.

我们生活的世界。

So why does the river boil?

为什么这条河会沸腾呢？

(Bubbling sounds)

（沸腾声）

It actually took me three years to get that footage.

这些图像是我花了三年时间收集来的。

Fault-fed hot springs.

地质断层滋长温泉。

As we have hot blood running through our veins and arteries,

正如人类体内的血管和动脉里流动着热血一样，

so, too, the earth has hot water running through its cracks and faults.

地球的裂缝和断层里也流淌着热水。

那些在地球表面的”动脉“，

Where these arteries come to the surface, these earth arteries,

we'll get geothermal manifestations:

就是地热表现：

喷气孔，温泉，正是我们这里的沸腾河。

fumaroles, hot springs and in our case, the boiling river.

What's truly incredible, though, is the scale of this place.

然而，真正难以置信的是这条河的规模之大。

Next time you cross the road, think about this.

下次当你过马路的时候，不妨这样想想。

The river flows wider than a two-lane road

这条河大部分流经地的宽度

along most of its path.

超过双车道的马路。

It flows hot for 6.24 kilometers.

而热水流经长度为6.24千米。

Truly impressive.

真是叹为观止。

有些热泉比TED的舞台还要打，

There are thermal pools larger than this TED stage,

而你看到的那个瀑布，

and that waterfall that you see there

is six meters tall --

其实有6米高--

and all with near-boiling water.

全部都接近沸点的河水。

We mapped the temperatures along the river,

我们按照河水的温度制作地图，

and this was by far the most demanding part of the fieldwork.

这项工作也是目前最为困难的部分。

And the results were just awesome.

出来的结果真是了不起。

Sorry -- the geoscientist in me coming out.

抱歉，我是个地理科学迷这事儿暴露了。

And it showed this amazing trend.

我们的结论展示出了一种趋势。

You see, the river starts off cold.

你看，这条河的河口是冷水。

It then heats up, cools back down, heats up, cools back down,

接下来逐渐升温，再降温，再升，又降，

heats up again, and then has this beautiful decay curve

再次升温，于是有了这些可爱的衰减曲线，

直到最后奔腾进冰冷的河水中。

until it smashes into this cold river.

Now, I understand not all of you are geothermal scientists,

我知道在座的有些并不是研究地热科学的，

so to put it in more everyday terms:

所以，用日常生活来举个例子：

Everyone loves coffee.

人人都爱咖啡。

Yes? Good.

对吗？

Your regular cup of coffee, 54 degrees C,

一杯普通的咖啡是54℃，

an extra-hot one, well, 60.

特别烫的咖啡是60℃。

So, put in coffee shop terms,

所以用咖啡的例子来说，

沸腾的河水看起来是这样的。

the boiling river plots like this.

There you have your hot coffee.

这是一杯热咖啡。

Here you have your extra-hot coffee,

这是加热的咖啡，

and you can see that there's a bit point there

可以看到这里有一个尖尖的地方，

where the river is still hotter than even the extra-hot coffee.

那就是这条河要比特别烫的咖啡还要烫。

And these are average water temperatures.

这些是水的平均温度。

We took these in the dry season to ensure the purest geothermal temperatures.

这些都是在干燥的季节采集的样品， 为了保证得到最纯粹的地热温度。

But there's a magic number here that's not being shown,

但有一个神奇的数字并没有显示出来，

and that number is 47 degrees C,

那就是47℃，

because that's where things start to hurt,

因为这是有害的临界点。

and I know this from very personal experience.

我知道这一点是因为我自己有过这样的经历。

Above that temperature, you don't want to get in that water.

超过47℃之后，没有人会想站在那里。

你得格外小心。

You need to be careful.

It can be deadly.

因为这可能是致命的。

I've seen all sorts of animals fall in,

我看到各种各样的动物掉入河里，

让我感到惊讶的是，整个过程几乎都雷同的。

and what's shocking to me, is the process is pretty much the same.

So they fall in and the first thing to go are the eyes.

当它们掉进河里时，第一个受到伤害的便是眼睛。

Eyes, apparently, cook very quickly. They turn this milky-white color.

眼睛显然不用煮多久，便成了奶白色。

The stream is carrying them.

河流把它们卷走。

They're trying to swim out, but their meat is cooking on the bone

虽然它们试着游上岸，但是他们正在被由外到内烹饪着，

because it's so hot.

因为温度实在太高了。

So they're losing power, losing power,

于是，它们渐渐地失去了力气，

until finally they get to a point where hot water goes into their mouths

最后热水冲进了嘴里，

and they cook from the inside out.

从内外外烹饪的过程开始了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

A bit sadistic, aren't we?

有点让人难过，不是吗？

Jeez.

天呐。

Leave them marinating for a little longer.

让它们在腌制一会儿。

What's, again, amazing are these temperatures.

另一个神奇之处便是温度。

They're similar to things that I've seen on volcanoes all over the world

这些河的温度和我所见过的火山差不多，

and even super-volcanoes like Yellowstone.

甚至类似于黄石的超级火山。

But here's the thing:

但有意思的是：

根据数据，这条沸腾河

the data is showing that the boiling river exists

independent of volcanism.

和火山并不是共存关系。

It's neither magmatic or volcanic in origin,

这和磁场或火山都没关系，

and again, over 700 kilometers away from the nearest volcanic center.

再强调一次，最近的火山离这里也有700公里远。

How can a boiling river exist like this?

这样一条沸腾的河流是怎么形成的呢？

I've asked geothermal experts and volcanologists for years,

多年来，我询问了许多地热专家和火山研究者们，

and I'm still unable to find another non-volcanic geothermal system

至今也没能找到另外一个非火山的地热系统，

of this magnitude.

有如此大的规模。

这是独一无二的。

It's unique.

It's special on a global scale.

在全球范围内来说都是特别的。

So, still -- how does it work?

但，它到底是怎么运作的呢？

Where do we get this heat?

这些热量从哪里来的 ？

There's still more research to be done

人们还要做许多的研究

to better constrain the problem and better understand the system,

才能更好的控制这个问题并理解这种系统，

but from what the data is telling us now,

但从目前我们获得的数据看，

it looks to be the result of a large hydrothermal system.

似乎是由大型热泉系统导致的。

概括起来便是：

Basically, it works like this:

So, the deeper you go into the earth, the hotter it gets.

越接近地球核心，温度越高。

We refer to this as the geothermal gradient.

我们称此为地热梯度。

The waters could be coming from as far away as glaciers in the Andes,

这些水可能是遥远的安第斯山脉冰川融水，

then seeping down deep into the earth

逐渐渗透入地球核心，

and coming out to form the boiling river

然后以沸腾河的形式流出，

after getting heated up from the geothermal gradient,

在受到地热梯度的加热之后，

all due to this unique geologic setting.

这一切都归功于这种独特的地质特征。

Now, we found that in and around the river --

目前，我们发现这条河里以及附近，

this is working with colleagues

我同几位来自国家地理的同事一起，

from National Geographic, Dr. Spencer Wells,

来自《国家地理》的威尔士博士，

来自UC Davis的埃森博士--

and Dr. Jon Eisen from UC Davis --

we genetically sequenced the extremophile lifeforms

我们对生活在河里以及周边的生物-

进行了基因排序，并且找到了新的生命形式，

living in and around the river, and have found new lifeforms,

unique species living in the boiling river.

生活在沸腾河里的独特生物。

But again, despite all of these studies, all of these discoveries and the legends,

但，尽管有这些研究，这些发现和传说，

a question remains:

仍有一个问题萦绕人心：

What is the significance of the boiling river?

沸腾河的存在有重要意义吗？

What is the significance of this stationary cloud

那片笼罩丛林的

that always hovers over this patch of jungle?

静止的云的存在有什么意义呢？

And what is the significance

再者，童年时代听到的传说

又有什么重要性呢？

of a detail in a childhood legend?

To the shaman and his community, it's a sacred site.

对萨满大师和那里的居民来说，这是一个神圣的地方。

To me, as a geoscientist,

对我来说，作为一名地球学家，

it's a unique geothermal phenomenon.

这是独特的地热现象。

但对于非法伐木和畜牧农场主来说，

But to the illegal loggers and cattle farmers,

it's just another resource to exploit.

这只不过是另一个可以开采的地方而已。

And to the Peruvian government, it's just another stretch

而对于秘鲁政府来说，这只不过是另一个

of unprotected land ready for development.

未受保护的地方等待被开发而已。

My goal is to ensure that whoever controls this land

我的目标是确保不管是谁掌管这片土地，

understands the boiling river's uniqueness and significance.

他们都能明白这条沸腾河的独特性和重要性。

Because that's the question,

因为这才是问题所在，

one of significance.

是重要意义之一。

And the thing there is,

而结论是，

重要与否是由我们来定义的。

we define significance.

It's us. We have that power.

我们。人类掌握着这项权利。

We are the ones who draw that line

是我们来界定什么是

between the sacred and the trivial.

神圣的，什么是微不足道的。

And in this age,

而在这个时代，

事物看起来似乎都在地图上绘画出来，测量过并研究过，

where everything seems mapped, measured and studied,

in this age of information,

在这个信息时代，

I remind you all that discoveries are not just made

我要提醒大家的是新发现并不是在

in the black void of the unknown

一片虚渺荒芜的黑暗中发现的，

而是在堆积如山的数据白噪点中发现的。

but in the white noise of overwhelming data.

There remains so much to explore.

还有许多等待人们去探索。

We live in an incredible world.

我们的世界是如此的奇妙。

So go out.

让我们走出去。

Be curious.

带着好奇心。

Because we do live in a world

因为我们生活的这个世界

where shamans still sing to the spirits of the jungle,

仍有萨满大师为丛林精灵吟唱，

where rivers do boil

有会沸腾的河流，

and where legends do come to life.

有传说成为现实。

谢谢大家。

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

（掌声）