例题解析:
Underground Coal fires a looming Catastrophe文章中复杂句子的分析:
1. These large-scale underground blazes cause the ground temperature to heat up and kill surroundings vegetation, produce greenhouse gases and can even ignite forest fires, a panel of scientists told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver.
2. The members of the panel discussed the impact these fires may be having on global and regional climate change, and agreed that the underground nature of the fires makes them difficult to protect.
3. One suggested method of containing the fires was presented by Cary Colaozzi, of the engineering firm Goodson, which has developed a heat-resistant grout (a thin mortar used to fill cracks and crevices,) which is designed to be pumped into the coal fire to cut off the oxygen supply.
4. In comparison, the U.S. economy consumes about one billion tons of coal annually, said Stracher, whose analysis of the likely impact of coal fires has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of coal ecology, once underway, coal fires can burn for decades, even centuries.
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Underground Coal fires a looming Catastrophe
Coal burning deep underground in China, India and Indonesia is threatening the environment and human life, scientists have warned. These large-scale underground blazes cause the ground temperature to heat up and kill surroundings vegetation, produce greenhouse gases and can even ignite forest fires, a panel of scientists told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver. The resulting release of poisonous elements like arsenic and mercury can also pollute local water sources and soils, they warned.
“Coal fires are a global catastrophe,” said Associate Professor Glenn Stracher of East Georgia College in Swainsboro, USA. But surprisingly few people know about them.
Coal can heat up on its own, and eventually catch fire and burn, if there is a continuous oxygen supply. The heat produced is not caused to disappear and under the right combinations of sunlight and oxygen, can trigger spontaneous catching fire and burning. This can occur underground, in coal stockpiles, abandoned mines or even as coal is transported. Such fires in China consume up to 200 million tones of coal per year, delegates were told. In comparison, the U.S. economy consumes about one billion tons of coal annually, said Stracher, whose analysis of the likely impact of coal fires has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of coal ecology, once underway, coal fires can burn for decades, even centuries. In the process, they release large volumes of greenhouse gases; poisonous gases fumes and black particles in to the atmosphere.