在南美洲,亞馬遜河每年從安第斯山脈帶走的砂石多達(dá)20億噸
and deposit it into the Atlantic ocean.
然后把它們沉積在大西洋
And on the Indian subcontinent,
在印度次大陸上
the Ganges River that starts high in the Himalayas
恒河從喜馬拉雅山起源
grinds away close to a billion tons of rock every year,
每年大約要侵蝕掉10億噸巖石
dropping millions of tons almost 1,900 miles down the river in the Indian Ocean.
并傾瀉到下游1900英里外的印度洋里
If it wasn't for the movement of the plates building new mountain ranges,
如果不是板塊運(yùn)動(dòng)建造著山脈
water will eventually erode away all the land on our planet.
水也許最終會(huì)把地球上的陸地都侵蝕掉
It's hard to imagine that if the plate will stop moving
難以想象,但是如果地球板塊停止運(yùn)動(dòng)
our planet will become a water world.
地球也許會(huì)變成一個(gè)水的世界
It may take an unfeasible long period of time,
這也許要很長(zhǎng)很長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間
but eventually, the land will be worn down and washed out to sea
但是最終陸地會(huì)被磨平,變成海洋
and Earth will be covered in a vast ocean。
地球?qū)?huì)被廣闊的幾公里深的海洋覆蓋
So it's thanks to the collisions of the plates continually pushing the land up
幸好有板塊的碰撞運(yùn)動(dòng) 使陸地不斷升高
that we still got terra firma to stand on.
所以我們還能站在陸地上