1.In 1970 geologists Kenneth J. Hsu and William B.F.Ryan were collecting research data while aboard the oceanographic research vessel Glomar Challenger.
许和Ryan在GC这艘研究船上研究地中海的地质构成。更具体的内容是：
提出文章主题：Why did the near extinction and migrations occur?
2.why should there have been so much solid crystalline salt beneath the floor of the Mediterranean?
提出另一个问题：为什么地中海的底下有那么多的结晶化的盐？
3.With question such as these clearly before them, the scientists aboard the Glomar Challenger processed to the Mediterranean to search for the answers.
带着上面两个问题，科学家进一步去地中海做研究。
发现1：pebble来自其他大陆的猜想没有证据支撑
Not a single pebble was found that might have indicated that the pebbles came from the nearby continent.
发现2：
Furthermore, the gypsum was found to possess peculiarities of composition and structure that suggested it had formed on desert flats. Sediment above and below the gypsum layer contained tiny marine fossils, indicating open-ocean conditions. As
gysum层的结构说明是在沙漠形成。而gypsum层的上下的沉积物里面有海洋生物的化石。表明曾经是海洋环境。
4.The time had come to formulate a hypothesis.
提出了关于时间的猜想：
---20 million years ago，Mediterranean was a broad seaway
Crustal movements closed the straits.Mediterranean began to evaporate.
导致了：
the extermination of scores of invertebrate species 很多无脊椎动物的消失
calcium sulfate of the hard layer was precipitated. 钙层参与
In the central deeper part of the basin, the last of the brine evaporated to precipitate more soluble sodium chloride (salt) 盆地中心蒸发剩下固态盐
this salt flowed plastically upward to form salt domes--形成盐穹顶
-----Before this happened, however, the Mediterranean was a vast desert 3,000 meters deep.---在这之前地中海是沙漠
--- ---about 5.5 million years ago came the deluge--5.5m年左右来了场大洪水
-- --As the basin was refilled, normal marine organisms returned. Soon layer of oceanic ooze began to accumulate above the old hard layer.--盆地被重新填充，海洋生物又回来了
ooze=seep 渗出。。
Q1：
Not a single pebble was found that might have indicated that the pebbles came from the nearby continent.
没有一个pebble被发现说是能表明这个pebbles是来自其他大陆的。
言外之意。pebbles来自其他大陆的说法并不成立。
Q2：
Sediment above and below the gypsum layer contained tiny marine fossils, indicating open-ocean conditions.
gypsum layer的上层或者下层的沉积物是包含小的海洋化石的。表明了开阔的海洋环境。
言外之意：gypsum这一层没有小的海洋化石。
scores 许多。
背景知识：
These structures had been detected years earlier by echo-sounding instruments, but they had never been penetrated in the course of drilling
echo-sounding 回声探测
penetrated 渗透 穿入--through
Interbedded with the salt were thin layers of what appeared to be windblown silt.
interbedded with...与...交错的..
windblown silt 风带来的淤泥
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