“Liquefaction” Key to Much of Japanese Earthquake Damage(“液化”是日本地震破壞的關鍵)

The massive subduction zone1 earthquake in Japan caused a significant level of soil "liquefaction"2 that has surprised researchers with its 1 severity, a new analysis shows.

一份分析報告表明，在日本，巨大的俯沖帶地震致使土壤液化的程度之嚴重，范圍之廣令研究者們著實吃了一驚。

"We've seen localized3 examples of soil liquefaction as extreme as this before, but the distance and 2 of damage in Japan were unusually severe," said Scott Ashford, a professor of geotechnical engineering4 at Oregon State University5. "Entire structures were tilted and sinking into the sediments," Ashford said. "The shifts in soil destroyed water, drain and gas pipelines6, crippling the utilities and infrastructure these communities need to 3 . We saw some places that sank as much as four feet."

“我們以前也看到過這么嚴重的小范圍的土壤液化現象，但是，日本的破壞程度范圍之廣是極為嚴重的。所有結構都傾斜了并陷到沉淀物中，土壤中的斷層摧毀了自來水管、排水和煤氣管道，社區的公共和基礎設施陷于癱瘓。我們看到有些地區下陷了四英尺”。來自俄勒岡州立大學巖土工程系的Scott Ashford說到。

Some degree of soil liquefaction7 is common in almost any major earthquake. It's a phenomenon in which soils soaked with water, particularly recent sediments or sand, can lose much of their 4 and flow during an earthquake. This can allow structures to shift or sink or 5 .

幾乎任何大地震都會帶來某種程度的土壤液化。這種現象是由于地震中浸滿了水的土壤，尤其剛沉淀下來的沉淀物或細砂土在振動作用下突然失去支撐的力量而呈現液態變化。從而導致地面建筑物移動、下沉或倒塌。

But most earthquakes are much 6 than the recent event in Japan, Ashford said. The length of the Japanese earthquake, as much as five minutes, may force researchers to reconsider the extent of liquefaction damage possibly occurring in situations such as this8.

“然而，多數地震比起最近日本發生的地震持續時間都短的多”。Ashford說道。日本發生的地震持續了五分鐘，這就促使研究者們重新審視類似這次(持續時間長的)地震中液化可能造成的毀壞規模。

"With such a long-lasting earthquake, we saw 7 structures that might have been okay after 30 seconds just continued to sink and tilt as the shaking continued for several more minutes," he said. "And it was clear that younger sediments, and especially areas built on 8 filled ground, are much more vulnerable."

“由于地震持續時間長，我們看到以前的地震持續30秒時地面建筑物仍舊完好無損，如果震動再延續幾分鐘，建筑物就會繼續下沉或傾斜，很明顯，那些建造在新近填就的地面上的建筑物最易受到傷害。”Ashford講到。

The data provided by analyzing the Japanese earthquake, researchers said, should make it possible to improve the understanding of this soil 9 and better prepare for it in the future. Ashford said it was critical for the team to collect the information quickly, 10 damage was removed in the recovery efforts9.

研究者們對日本地震作出了分析并得出數據，這些數據能大大提高人們了解土壤浸水后的這類現象，以便做好防備，對付未來可能發生的同類現象。Ashford認為，重建工作首先要清理廢墟，這樣地震現場就被破壞了。所以科學家必須要趕在重建工作開始之前收集好地震資料。

"There's no doubt that we'll learn things from what happened in Japan10 that11 will help us to reduce risks in other similar 11 ," Ashford said. "Future construction in some places may make more use of techniques known to reduce liquefaction, such as better compaction to make soils dense, or use of reinforcing stone columns."

“毋庸置疑，我們從日本地震中學到的東西有助于在將來類似的情況中降低風險。一些地方的建筑物會更多應用液化減少技術，如加強土壤的夯實或用石柱加固”。Ashford說。

Ashford pointed out that northern California have younger soils vulnerable to liquefaction ---on the coast, near river deposits or in areas with filled ground. The "young" sediments, in geologic terms, may be those 12 within the past 10,000 years or more. In Oregon, for instance, that describes much of downtown Portland, the Portland International Airport and other cities.

Ashford指出，北加利福尼亞州那些沿岸的、距離河口堆積物較近或填充的土壤易于受到液化的侵害。“年輕”的沉淀物這個詞在地質學中是指那些年代少于或略超過一萬年的沉淀物。比如，在俄勒岡州，它指的是Portland市區的大部分地區、Portland國際機場和其他城市。

Anything 13 a river and old flood plains is a suspect12, and the Oregon Department of Transportation has already concluded that 1,100 bridges in the state are at risk from an earthquake. Fewer than 15 percent of them have been reinforced to 14 collapse. Japan has suffered tremendous losses in the March 11 earthquake, but Japanese construction 15 helped prevent many buildings from collapse ---even as they tilted and sank into the ground.

凡是在河流和泛濫平原附近地區的土壤很有可能是危險的。俄勒岡交通部斷定，該州的1100座橋梁如發生地震會有危險。只有不到15%的橋梁得到了加固以防坍塌。日本在3月11日的地震中損失慘重，但是震區的建筑物傾斜、下沉，卻沒有倒塌，日本的建筑標準功不可沒。

詞匯：

subduction /s?b'd?k??n/ n.俯沖

sediment /'sedim?nt/ n.沉積;沉淀物

liquefaction /likwi'f?k??n/ n.液化

infrastructure /'Infr?,str?kt??/ n.基礎設施

geotecnical /d?i?u'teknik?l] adj.巖土技術

compaction /k?m'p?k??n/ n.壓緊的

vulnerable /'v?ln?r?bl/ ad].易受傷害的

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