The night is completely black. But the darkness of a hill inside the crater of Indonesia’s Kawah Ijen Volcano is lit up like a holiday light show. Tourists gather at the volcano to see what look like glowing blue rivers of Java. But they aren’t rivers of lava. They’re rivers of glowing sulfur (硫磺).
Glowing red lava flowing from an erupting volcano isn’t unusual. Glowing sulfur is. Hot, sulfur-rich gases escape constantly from fumaroles (喷气孔) in Kawah Ijen’s crater. Scientists were told that sulfur miners on the volcano sometimes use torches to light the sulfur. The blue flames make Kawah Ijen popular with tourists. who watch from a safe distance.
Sulfur is common in volcanic gas, and it can be used to produce many things. But it’s so plentiful in Kawah Ijen’s crater that miners make a dangerous daily journey into the crater to collect sulfur from a fumarole. “The local people pipe the gases from the fumarole through pipes,” says scientist John Pallister. He has walked into the crater himself, wearing a gas mask for protection against the clouds of acid that rise from the lake. “They use water from a spring to cool the pipes,” he says. This causes gases to change into liquid sulfur. The sulfur then cools and hardens into rock. Using this method, miners get more usable rock faster than if they just collect pieces.
Miners face another hazard: a huge eruption. Kawah Ijen’s last big eruption was almost 200 years ago, but the volcano is still active. Indonesian scientists want to find a way to predict a big eruption in time to keep everyone safe. But the deep acid lake makes it difficult to pick up the usual signals that warn of a coming volcanic eruption.
For example, certain gases are usually richer right before an eruption. But in this lake, those gases disappear into the deep water before they can register on the geologists’ equipment.
As scientists search for ways to predict this unusual volcano’s behavior, Kawah Ijen’s blue fires continue to attract audiences who appreciate the volcano’s amazing glow.
【小题1】What makes Kawah Ijen attractive to tourists?| A．Its special outline. | B．Its blue fire. |
| C．Its glowing red lava. | D．Its delightful scene in daylight. |
| A．The daily life of local miners. |
| B．The method of getting sulfur effectively. |
| C．The protection provided for Kawah Ijen. |
| D．The process of researching the inner part of the crater. |
| A．Danger. | B．Decision. | C．Direction. | D．Disappointment. |
| A．The advantage of scientists’ equipment. |
| B．The working rules of scientists’ research. |
| C．The difficulty of predicting a big eruption. |
| D．The necessity of patience in studying an eruption. |
