The boiling river of the Amazon

亞馬遜河的沸騰河流

by Andrés Ruzo

As a boy in Lima, my grandfather told me a legend of the Spanish conquest of Peru. Atahualpa, emperor of the Inca, had been captured and killed. Pizarro and his conquistadors had grown rich, and tales of their conquest and glory had reached Spain and was bringing new waves of Spaniards, hungry for gold and glory. They would go into towns and ask the Inca, "Where's another civilization we can conquer? Where's more gold?"

作為一個在利馬的男孩，我的祖父告訴我一個關(guān)于西班牙征服秘魯?shù)膫髡f。印加皇帝阿塔瓦爾帕被抓獲并殺害。皮薩羅和他的征服者們發(fā)財了，他們征服和榮耀的故事已經(jīng)傳到了西班牙，并帶來了新一波的西班牙人，渴望黃金和榮耀。他們會進(jìn)入城鎮(zhèn)問印加人，“我們能征服的另一個文明在哪里？”黃金在哪里？”

And the Inca, out of vengeance, told them, "Go to the Amazon. You'll find all the gold you want there. In fact, there is a city called Paititi -- El Dorado in Spanish -- made entirely of gold."

印加人出于報復(fù)，對他們說：“去亞馬遜河?！蹦銜业剿心阆胍慕鹱印Ｊ聦嵣?，在西班牙有一個叫Paititi的城市，是用黃金打造的。

The Spanish set off into the jungle, but the few that return come back with stories, stories of powerful shamans, of warriors with poisoned arrows, of trees so tall they blotted out the sun, spiders that ate birds, snakes that swallowed men whole and a river that boiled.

西班牙人出發(fā)進(jìn)入?yún)擦郑贁?shù)回來的故事，故事的強(qiáng)大的薩滿，勇士與毒箭，樹高，他們遮住了太陽，蜘蛛，吃鳥，一條蛇吞了人，一條河開了。

All this became a childhood memory. And years passed. I'm working on my PhD at SMU, trying to understand Peru's geothermal energy potential, when I remember this legend, and I began asking that question. Could the boiling river exist?

這一切都成了童年的記憶。幾年過去了。我在SMU攻讀博士學(xué)位，試圖了解秘魯?shù)牡責(zé)崮軡摿?，?dāng)我想起這個傳說時，我開始問這個問題。沸騰的河流會存在嗎？

I asked colleagues from universities, the government, oil, gas and mining companies, and the answer was a unanimous no. And this makes sense. You see, boiling rivers do exist in the world, but they're generally associated with volcanoes. You need a powerful heat source to produce such a large geothermal manifestation. And as you can see from the red dots here, which are volcanoes, we don't have volcanoes in the Amazon, nor in most of Peru. So it follows: We should not expect to see a boiling river.

我問來自大學(xué)、政府、石油、天然氣和礦業(yè)公司的同事，答案是一致的。這是有道理的。你看，沸騰的河流確實存在于世界上，但它們通常與火山有關(guān)。你需要一個強(qiáng)大的熱源來產(chǎn)生這么大的地?zé)崮堋Ｄ憧梢詮倪@里的紅點看到，這是火山，我們沒有在亞馬遜的火山，也沒有在秘魯?shù)拇蟛糠帧Ｒ虼?，我們不?yīng)該期望看到一條沸騰的河流。

Telling this same story at a family dinner, my aunt tells me, "But no, Andrés, I've been there. I've swum in that river."

在一次家宴上講同樣的故事，我阿姨告訴我，“但是，沒有，安德雷，我去過那里。我在那條河里游泳?！?/p>

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Then my uncle jumps in. "No, Andrés, she's not kidding. You see, you can only swim in it after a very heavy rain, and it's protected by a powerful shaman. Your aunt, she's friends with his wife."

然后我叔叔跳了進(jìn)來?！安?，安德雷，她不是在開玩笑。你看，你只能在一場大雨之后在里面游泳，而且它被一個強(qiáng)大的薩滿保護(hù)著。你的姨媽，她和他的妻子是朋友。”

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

"?Cómo?" ["Huh?"]

"?Cómo?" ["Huh?"]

You know, despite all my scientific skepticism, I found myself hiking into the jungle, guided by my aunt, over 700 kilometers away from the nearest volcanic center, and well, honestly, mentally preparing myself to behold the legendary "warm stream of the Amazon."

你知道，盡管我有很多科學(xué)上的懷疑，但我還是在我姑媽的指導(dǎo)下，徒步穿越了離最近的火山中心700多公里的叢林，而且，老實說，心里準(zhǔn)備著去看那傳說中的“亞馬遜河暖流”。

But then ... I heard something, a low surge that got louder and louder as we came closer. It sounded like ocean waves constantly crashing, and as we got closer, I saw smoke, vapor, coming up through the trees. And then, I saw this.

但是……我聽到一些東西，一個低的浪涌，當(dāng)我們走近時，聲音越來越大。它聽起來像海浪不斷撞擊，當(dāng)我們走近時，我看到煙霧，蒸氣，從樹上冒出來。然后，我看到了這個。

I immediately grabbed for my thermometer, and the average temperatures in the river were 86 degrees C. This is not quite the 100-degree C boiling but definitely close enough. The river flowed hot and fast. I followed it upriver and was led by, actually, the shaman's apprentice to the most sacred site on the river. And this is what's bizarre -- It starts off as a cold stream. And here, at this site, is the home of the Yacumama, mother of the waters, a giant serpent spirit who births hot and cold water. And here we find a hot spring, mixing with cold stream water underneath her protective motherly jaws and thus bringing their legends to life.

我立刻抓起我的溫度計，河水的平均溫度是攝氏86度。這不是相當(dāng)于100攝氏度的沸騰，但絕對足夠接近。河水又熱又快。我跟著它向上游走去，事實上，薩滿的學(xué)徒來到了河上最神圣的地方。奇怪的是，它開始時是一股冷流。在這里，在這個地點，是亞庫馬的家，水的母親，一個巨大的蛇精神誰出生熱和冷水。在這里，我們找到了一個溫泉，在她保護(hù)的母親的下顎下，混合著冰冷的溪水，從而將他們的傳說帶到了生活中。

The next morning, I woke up and --

第二天早上，我醒來，

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I asked for tea. I was handed a mug, a tea bag and, well, pointed towards the river. To my surprise, the water was clean and had a pleasant taste, which is a little weird for geothermal systems.

我要茶。我被遞給一個杯子，一個茶包，而且，嗯，指向河。令我驚訝的是，水是干凈的，有一個愉快的味道，這是一個有點奇怪的地?zé)嵯到y(tǒng)。

What was amazing is that the locals had always known about this place, and that I was by no means the first outsider to see it. It was just part of their everyday life. They drink its water. They take in its vapor. They cook with it, clean with it, even make their medicines with it.

令人驚奇的是，當(dāng)?shù)厝艘恢倍贾肋@個地方，我決不是第一個看到它的外人。這只是他們?nèi)粘Ｉ畹囊徊糠?。他們喝它的水。他們吸收了它的蒸氣。他們用它做飯，用它清潔，甚至用它做藥品?/p>

I met the shaman, and he seemed like an extension of the river and his jungle. He asked for my intentions and listened carefully. Then, to my tremendous relief -- I was freaking out, to be honest with you -- a smile began to snake across his face, and he just laughed.

我遇到了薩滿，他看起來像是河流和叢林的延伸。他問我的意圖，仔細(xì)聽了。然后，對我的巨大的解脫--我嚇壞了，對你誠實--一個微笑開始在他臉上掠過，他只是笑了。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I had received the shaman's blessing to study the river, on the condition that after I take the water samples and analyze them in my lab, wherever I was in the world, that I pour the waters back into the ground so that, as the shaman said, the waters could find their way back home.

我收到了薩滿的祝福來研究這條河，條件是我在我的實驗室里采集水樣并進(jìn)行分析后，無論我在世界上的什么地方，我把水倒在地上，正如薩滿所說，水可以找到回家的路。

I've been back every year since that first visit in 2011, and the fieldwork has been exhilarating, demanding and at times dangerous. One story was even featured in National Geographic Magazine. I was trapped on a small rock about the size of a sheet of paper in sandals and board shorts, in between an 80 degree C river and a hot spring that, well, looked like this, close to boiling. And on top of that, it was Amazon rain forest. Pshh, pouring rain, couldn't see a thing. The temperature differential made it all white. It was a whiteout. Intense.

自從2011年第一次訪問以來，我每年都會回來，實地工作一直很愉快，要求很高，有時也很危險。《國家地理》雜志甚至刊登了一個故事。我被困在一塊小巖石上，大約有一張紙的大小，在一條涼鞋和一條短褲上，在一條80度的C河和一個溫泉之間，很好，看起來像這樣，接近沸騰。最重要的是亞馬遜雨林。噓，傾盆大雨，什么也看不見。溫差使它變白了。那是一個白色的。緊張。

Now, after years of work, I'll soon be submitting my geophysical and geochemical studies for publication. And I'd like to share, today, with all of you here, on the TED stage, for the first time, some of these discoveries.

現(xiàn)在，經(jīng)過多年的工作，我很快將提交我的地球物理和地球化學(xué)研究出版。今天，我想和你們大家一起，在TED的舞臺上，第一次，一些這些發(fā)現(xiàn)。

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

首先，這不是一個傳說。真想不到！

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

When I first started the research, the satellite imagery was too low-resolution to be meaningful. There were just no good maps. Thanks to the support of the Google Earth team, I now have this. Not only that, the indigenous name of the river, Shanay-timpishka, "boiled with the heat of the sun," indicating that I'm not the first to wonder why the river boils, and showing that humanity has always sought to explain the world around us.

當(dāng)我第一次開始研究時，衛(wèi)星圖像分辨率太低，不太有意義。沒有好的地圖。多虧了Google Earth團(tuán)隊的支持，我現(xiàn)在有了這個。不僅如此，這條河的土著名字——山奈·蒂皮什卡，“隨著太陽的熱而沸騰”，這表明我不是第一個想知道為什么河水會沸騰的人，并顯示人類一直在試圖解釋我們周圍的世界。

So why does the river boil?

那河水為什么會沸騰？

(Bubbling sounds)

（冒泡的聲音）

It actually took me three years to get that footage.

我花了三年時間才弄到那個鏡頭。

Fault-fed hot springs. As we have hot blood running through our veins and arteries, so, too, the earth has hot water running through its cracks and faults. Where these arteries come to the surface, these earth arteries, we'll get geothermal manifestations: fumaroles, hot springs and in our case, the boiling river.

有故障的溫泉。當(dāng)我們的血液流過我們的血管和動脈時，地球也有熱水流過它的裂縫和斷層。這些動脈到達(dá)表面，這些地球的動脈，我們將得到地?zé)岬谋憩F(xiàn)：噴氣孔，溫泉和我們的情況下，沸騰的河流。

What's truly incredible, though, is the scale of this place. Next time you cross the road, think about this. The river flows wider than a two-lane road along most of its path. It flows hot for 6.24 kilometers. Truly impressive. There are thermal pools larger than this TED stage, and that waterfall that you see there is six meters tall -- and all with near-boiling water.

但真正令人難以置信的是這個地方的規(guī)模。下次你過馬路的時候，想想這個。這條河的大部分道路都比一條雙線道寬。它的溫度為6.24公里。真令人印象深刻。有比這個TED階段更大的熱水池，你看到的瀑布有6米高，所有的都靠近沸騰的水。

We mapped the temperatures along the river, and this was by far the most demanding part of the fieldwork. And the results were just awesome. Sorry -- the geoscientist in me coming out. And it showed this amazing trend. You see, the river starts off cold. It then heats up, cools back down, heats up, cools back down, heats up again, and then has this beautiful decay curve until it smashes into this cold river.

我們繪制了沿河的溫度，這是迄今為止野外工作中最需要的部分。結(jié)果真是太棒了。對不起，我的地球科學(xué)家出來了。它顯示了這一驚人的趨勢。你看，這條河開始變冷了。然后加熱，冷卻下來，加熱，冷卻下來，再加熱，然后有這個美麗的衰變曲線，直到它粉碎到這寒冷的河流。

Now, I understand not all of you are geothermal scientists, so to put it in more everyday terms: Everyone loves coffee. Yes? Good. Your regular cup of coffee, 54 degrees C, an extra-hot one, well, 60. So, put in coffee shop terms, the boiling river plots like this. There you have your hot coffee. Here you have your extra-hot coffee, and you can see that there's a bit point there where the river is still hotter than even the extra-hot coffee. And these are average water temperatures. We took these in the dry season to ensure the purest geothermal temperatures.

現(xiàn)在，我不知道你們所有人都是地?zé)峥茖W(xué)家，所以把它放在日常生活中：每個人都喜歡咖啡。是嗎？好的。你的普通咖啡，54攝氏度，一個額外的熱的，嗯，60。所以，放在咖啡店的術(shù)語，像這樣的沸騰的河流。你有熱咖啡。這里有你的額外的熱咖啡，你可以看到有一點，那里的河流仍然比熱咖啡更熱。這些是平均水溫。我們在旱季采取這些措施，以確保最純凈的地?zé)釡囟取?/p>

But there's a magic number here that's not being shown, and that number is 47 degrees C, because that's where things start to hurt, and I know this from very personal experience. Above that temperature, you don't want to get in that water. You need to be careful. It can be deadly.

但是這里有一個不被顯示的神奇數(shù)字，那個數(shù)字是47攝氏度，因為這是開始傷害的地方，我從非常個人的經(jīng)驗中知道這一點。在那溫度之上，你不想進(jìn)入那水里。你需要小心。它可能是致命的。

I've seen all sorts of animals fall in, 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. Eyes, apparently, cook very quickly. They turn this milky-white color. The stream is carrying them. They're trying to swim out, but their meat is cooking on the bone because it's so hot. So they're losing power, losing power, until finally they get to a point where hot water goes into their mouths and they cook from the inside out.

我看到過各種各樣的動物，我感到震驚的是，這個過程幾乎是一樣的。所以他們掉進(jìn)去的第一件事就是眼睛。顯然，眼睛很快就會燒起來。它們變成了乳白色。這條小溪正在運(yùn)送它們。他們想游出去，但他們的肉在骨頭上煮，因為它很熱。所以他們正在失去權(quán)力，失去權(quán)力，直到最后他們到達(dá)一個點，熱水進(jìn)入他們的嘴里，他們從里面煮出來。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

A bit sadistic, aren't we? Jeez. Leave them marinating for a little longer. What's, again, amazing are these temperatures. They're similar to things that I've seen on volcanoes all over the world and even super-volcanoes like Yellowstone.

有點虐待狂，不是嗎？天哪。讓他們再多泡一會兒。這些溫度又是驚人的。它們和我在世界各地的火山上看到的相似，甚至是像黃石公園這樣的超級火山。

But here's the thing: the data is showing that the boiling river exists independent of volcanism. It's neither magmatic or volcanic in origin, and again, over 700 kilometers away from the nearest volcanic center.

但事情是這樣的：數(shù)據(jù)顯示，沸騰的河流與火山活動無關(guān)。這不是巖漿或火山的起源，又一次，距離最近的火山中心700多公里。

How can a boiling river exist like this? I've asked geothermal experts and volcanologists for years, and I'm still unable to find another non-volcanic geothermal system of this magnitude. It's unique. It's special on a global scale. So, still -- how does it work? Where do we get this heat? There's still more research to be done to better constrain the problem and better understand the system, but from what the data is telling us now, it looks to be the result of a large hydrothermal system.

一條沸騰的河流怎么能這樣存在呢？我已經(jīng)問了地?zé)釋＜液突鹕綄W(xué)家多年，我仍然無法找到另一個非火山地?zé)嵯到y(tǒng)。這是獨(dú)一無二的。它在全球范圍內(nèi)是特別的。那么，它是如何工作的？我們在哪里得到這種熱量？還有更多的研究要做，以更好地約束問題，更好地理解系統(tǒng)，但從數(shù)據(jù)告訴我們現(xiàn)在，它看起來是一個大型水熱系統(tǒng)的結(jié)果。

Basically, it works like this: So, the deeper you go into the earth, the hotter it gets. We refer to this as the geothermal gradient. The waters could be coming from as far away as glaciers in the Andes, then seeping down deep into the earth and coming out to form the boiling river after getting heated up from the geothermal gradient, all due to this unique geologic setting.

基本上，它是這樣運(yùn)作的：所以，你進(jìn)入地球越深，它就越熱。我們稱之為地溫梯度。水可能從安第斯山脈的冰川中流出，然后深入地下，從地溫梯度升溫后形成沸騰的河流，都是由于這個獨(dú)特的地質(zhì)背景。

Now, we found that in and around the river -- this is working with colleagues from National Geographic, Dr. Spencer Wells, and Dr. Jon Eisen from UC Davis -- we genetically sequenced the extremophile lifeforms living in and around the river, and have found new lifeforms, unique species living in the boiling river.

現(xiàn)在，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)在河的周圍--這是和國家地理的同事斯賓塞·韋爾斯博士合作的，來自加州大學(xué)戴維斯分校的喬恩·艾森博士——我們對生活在河中和周圍的極端微生物的生命形式進(jìn)行了基因排序，發(fā)現(xiàn)了新的生命形式，生活在沸騰的河流中的獨(dú)特物種。

But again, despite all of these studies, all of these discoveries and the legends, a question remains: What is the significance of the boiling river? What is the significance of this stationary cloud that always hovers over this patch of jungle? And what is the significance of a detail in a childhood legend?

但是，盡管所有這些研究，所有這些發(fā)現(xiàn)和傳說，一個問題仍然存在：什么是沸騰的河流的意義？這個靜止的云在這片叢林上空盤旋的意義是什么？在童年的傳說中，細(xì)節(jié)的意義是什么？

To the shaman and his community, it's a sacred site. To me, as a geoscientist, it's a unique geothermal phenomenon. But to the illegal loggers and cattle farmers, it's just another resource to exploit. And to the Peruvian government, it's just another stretch of unprotected land ready for development.

對薩滿和他的社區(qū)來說，這是一個神圣的場所。對我來說，作為一個地球科學(xué)家，這是一個獨(dú)特的地?zé)岈F(xiàn)象。但對于非法伐木者和養(yǎng)牛者來說，這只是另一種剝削的資源。而對于秘魯政府來說，這只是另一片未受保護(hù)的土地，準(zhǔn)備發(fā)展。

My goal is to ensure that whoever controls this land understands the boiling river's uniqueness and significance. Because that's the question, one of significance. And the thing there is, we define significance. It's us. We have that power. We are the ones who draw that line between the sacred and the trivial. And in this age, where everything seems mapped, measured and studied, in this age of information, I remind you all that discoveries are not just made in the black void of the unknown but in the white noise of overwhelming data.

我的目標(biāo)是確保任何控制這片土地的人都能理解沸騰的河流的獨(dú)特性和意義。因為這是一個重要的問題。還有就是，我們定義了意義。是我們。我們有這種能力。我們是那些在神圣與瑣碎之間劃出界限的人。在這個時代，在這個信息時代，一切似乎都被映射、測量和研究，我提醒你們所有的發(fā)現(xiàn)不僅僅是在未知的黑色虛空中，而是在壓倒性數(shù)據(jù)的白噪聲中。

There remains so much to explore. We live in an incredible world. So go out. Be curious. Because we do live in a world where shamans still sing to the spirits of the jungle, where rivers do boil and where legends do come to life.

還有很多要探索的東西。我們生活在一個不可思議的世界里。所以出去吧。好奇。因為我們生活在一個巫師們?nèi)栽谙騾擦值木`歌唱的世界里，在那里河流沸騰，傳說在那里復(fù)活。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）