VOA标准英语--Ocean Floor is Prime Target of Mining Industry

Ocean Floor is Prime Target of Mining Industry

The next great frontier for the mining industry could be hydrothermal vents² that lie deep on the ocean floor. The super-hot flues create deposits of sulfide, which contain precious metals such as gold, silver, copper³ and zinc⁴.
Chris Yeats, an ore deposit geologist⁵ at Australia's state-sponsored scientific and research organization, CSIRO, believes that plans by Nautilus Minerals, which has a license⁶ to mine sulfide on the floor of the Bismarck Sea off Papua New Guinea, will be safe and productive.
"The activities that Nautilus are proposing are something like plowing⁷ a field or raking your garden, that you're, you're, you're stirring up the environment, but you're not fundamentally changing it," said Yeats.
Nautilus has not commented on its plans, nor on calls for authorities in Papua New Guinea to abandon the deep sea project, which would involve sophisticated marine⁸ technology.
Stefan Williams from the University of Sydney's Australian Center for Field Robotics is helping⁹ exploration companies peer into the dark depths of the ocean.
"One of the main challenges obviously [is] the environment, then pressures that are associated with depths, so actually getting equipment into deep water it has to be designed to withstand those kinds of pressures and corrosive¹⁰ environment of saltwater," said Williams.
His work on vehicles capable of high-resolution surveys of the sea floor is casting light on a mysterious world.
"There's not a lot down there. It's kind of a big, muddy flat plain for the most part but then you come across some weird¹¹ and wonderful sea life, things [you] just don't know what to make of - pretty astounding," explained Williams.
Asked whether he thinks this is an area ripe for exploration in the future, Williams was optimistic.
"I think so. There are a lot of areas of the ocean that we don't know a lot about," he said. "Some people have suggested we know a lot more about the moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean just because it's something we can see. And so I think there will be good opportunities for extensive exploration and understanding what resources are available in these deep-sea environments and the possibility, I guess, of exploiting those in the future."
Cindy Lee Van Dover, a professor of biological oceanography, has explored almost all of the world's hydrothermal vent¹ fields. Chains of these mineral-rich outlets¹² lie along fault lines, including the Pacific Ring of Fire and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge¹³.
She says that the precise impact of deep-sea mining needs to be known before the exploitation of such valuable resources can begin.
"If mining of extraction of metals on the seabed takes place, we'd like to know what happens and how quickly the animals come back," she said. "We'd like to work with industry to understand what baselines we really need to put in place to be able to monitor the change as the animals come back and recolonize. If one site recovers from mining very quickly in a matter of years or decades, maybe that's not such a bad thing, but we need to understand how to know that."
Seabed mining used to be far too expensive to be worthwhile, but there are concerns from conservationists that advances in technology, making mining more feasible, pose a threat to the world's oceans.
The success or failure of the Nautilus deep sea project is seen as crucial to the future of deep-sea mining, according to Charles Roche, the executive director of the Australia-based Mineral Policy Institute.
"This is not going to be a bonanza," said Roche. "It is going to be a very small mine actually, especially compared to some of the larger terrestrial mines. It's really a trial mine. It's an experimental one that the locals in Papua New Guinea like to call it that they are guinea pigs - that it's an experimental mine. So really this is about proving the technology and the concept. What they are trying to do is prove that we can extract the minerals from the bottom of the sea and it is economically viable¹⁴."
The first commercial deep-sea mine is expected to begin in Papua New Guinea next year and exploration is booming across the South Pacific and in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
International regulators set up by the United Nations have signed four new contracts with groups looking to explore the ocean floor. This includes agreements with government and private organizations from China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

1 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

2 vents   

（气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩

参考例句：

• He always vents his anger on the dog. 他总是拿狗出气。
• The Dandelion Patch is the least developed of the four active vents. “蒲公英区”在这四个活裂口中是发育最差的一个。

3 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

4 zinc   

n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。

5 geologist   

n.地质学家

参考例句：

• The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley.在那山谷里，地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。
• He was a geologist,rated by his cronies as the best in the business.他是一位地质学家，被他的老朋友们看做是这门行当中最好的一位。

6 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

7 plowing   

v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• "There are things more important now than plowing, Sugar. "如今有比耕种更重要的事情要做呀，宝贝儿。 来自飘（部分）
• Since his wife's death, he has been plowing a lonely furrow. 从他妻子死后，他一直过着孤独的生活。 来自辞典例句

8 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 corrosive   

adj.腐蚀性的；有害的；恶毒的

参考例句：

• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。
• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。

11 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

12 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

14 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。