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It's like a giant tape measure, dividing an entire mountain into a series of 23,000 year divisions.
整座山峰宛若巨大的卷尺，每个岩层刻度代表了2.3万年的时光。
Rampino then fitted the layer of rock containing the evidence of the extinction into this pattern of cycles.
接着Rampino将保有大灭绝证据的岩层放到这类周期岩层中进行研究。
It covered less than half a cycle, 8,000-10,000 years, far faster than anyone had thought possible.
发现它的厚度连周期岩层的一半都不到，只有8000-10000年，比人们估计的快了许多。
What this tells me is that the mass extinction took place in an astonishingly short period of time,
这说明大灭绝只是发生在很短的一段时期内，
less than 10,000 years and possibly instantaneously.
还不到1万年，几乎就是一瞬间。
This means that that mass extinction was catastrophic.
也就是说这场大灭绝绝对是灾难性的。
To have destroyed so much of life so quickly, the killer must have been extraordinarily violent.
能如此迅速地杀死这么多生物，这个杀手必然十分厉害。
Rampino could think of only one thing it could be.
Rampino认为事实只可能是一种情况。
A mass extinction that happens at less than 10,000 years is very abrupt.
持续时间不到1万年的大灭绝事件是非常突然的。
It fits the picture of a large impact at the end of the Permian.
这说明二叠纪末期发生了一次陨石大冲撞。
Rampino was now convinced a huge meteor had slammed into the earth 250 million years ago.
Rampino认为，2亿5千万年前，一块巨大的陨石撞上了地球。
Shockwaves would have raced around the globe instantly killing everything within hundreds of miles.
冲击波席卷全球，瞬间杀死了数千英里范围内的所有生物。
