The largest volcano on Earth, known as the Tamu Massif, is sitting under the Pacific Ocean about 1, 000 miles east of Japan, according to a new study by geoscientists at the University of Houston.
据休斯顿大学地球科学家们的一项新研究表明，地球上最大的火山――大塔穆火山(Tamu Massif)，位于日本以东1,000英里处的太平洋海底。
If planetary scale is still too small to catch your attention, it bears mentioning that the Tamu Massif also ranks among the largest volcanic structures identified to date in the Solar System.
如果地球这个范围仍然太小，不足以引起你的注意，那么请注意，大塔穆火山还是太阳系中迄今为止发现的最大火山构造之一。
That’s right, “Solar System.”
没错，是“太阳系”。
William Sager, a professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston, identified the volcano, which covers an area about the size of the state of New Mexico.
这座占地面积几乎相当于美国新墨西哥州的火山是由休斯顿大学地球与大气科学系教授威廉姆•萨格尔(William Sager)确认的。
In the most recent issue of Nature Geoscience, Sager shows that the Tamu Massif structure, which formed around 145 million years ago, forms a single volcano rather than a series of smaller volcanoes.
在最近一期《自然地球科学》(Nature Geoscience)杂志上，萨格尔向我们展现，大约形成于1.45亿年前的大塔穆火山是一座单火山而不是火山群。
More than 400 miles wide, the Tamu Massif rivals Mars‘ giant Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the Solar System.
超过400英里宽的大塔穆火山可与火星上的奥林帕斯山(OlympusMons)相媲美，后者是太阳系中已知的最大火山。
The terrifically large Tamu Massif remained hidden until now because it sits under more than a mile of salt water in the middle of nowhere.
如此巨大的大塔穆火山之所以直到现在才为人所知，是因为它地处偏远，并且位于海平面之下超过1英里的深处。
“We knew it was a big volcanic something, ” William Sager, the Houston team’s lead researcher, told The Verge. “The problem is we really don’t know what’s out there. We can’t see the structure very clearly.”
“我们过去只知道它是一个大火山，”休斯顿团队的首席研究员威廉姆•萨格尔在接受媒体The Verge采访时说，“问题是我们真的不知道那里有什么。我们不能清晰地看到它的结构。”
Based on seismic data gathered from drilling samples and sound wave readings taken above the volcano on the surface of the Pacific Ocean, Sager determined that the volcano’s lava originated from a one central spot.
基于从钻探样本收集来的地震数据以及在火山上方的太平洋表面所得到的声波读数，萨格尔认为该火山的岩浆源自某个中心位置。
“What we saw surprised us, ” Sager said. “Before this we weren’t sure that we had single volcanoes that could grow to this size. Now we do.”
“我们被眼前的数据惊呆了，”萨格尔说道，“在此之前，我们不确定会有如此之大的单个火山。现在我们确认了。”
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