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Could these massive reservoirs of methane, he now wondered, be the source of the carbon 12 found in Permian rocks
他现在想知道，这些大型甲烷矿藏是否就是二叠纪岩层中碳-12的来源，
and if it was, how did it get there?
如果是，它们又是怎么进入岩石的呢？
Dickens started to investigate.
Dickens决定展开调查。
Naturally occurring frozen methane is unstable and difficult to extract,
自然生成的冰冻甲烷很不稳定，也很难获得，
so samples were artificially created in a lab.
所以样本只能在实验室中人工制造。
The big question is try to get methane from deep down in the ocean up to the atmosphere.
问题是甲烷如何从深海底上升到大气层中。
He put blocks of the man-made methane into warmed water.
他将几块人造甲烷放入温水。
The results were spectacular. So it's disassociating deep down.
反应十分强烈。它们分解了。
Dickens found that even small pieces of frozen methane released enormous quantities of gas rich in carbon 12.
Dickens发现即使很小一块冰冻甲烷也能释放出大量含有碳-12的气体。
The experiment supported what he'd suspected
实验证实了他的假设，
the increase in carbon 12 could be the fingerprint of a massive methane release.
碳-12的剧增正是甲烷大量释放的结果。
He found something else as well.
此外他还有别的发现。
It would only take a small increase in water temperatures to melt the methane and release the carbon.
水温只要略有升高，甲烷就会融化释放出碳。
