DEEP DIVES

There are those who play Minecraft for the mining and crafting, and those who play for the building. Every update we try to make both player groups happy.
有些玩家玩 Minecraft 是为了享受挖掘和创造的趣味，有些玩家则乐在建筑。每次更新我们都尽量同时讨好两派玩家。

That’s why, in the Nether update, we’ve included a bunch of blocks that exist primarily for decorative reasons – alongside the new monsters to defeat and resources to collect. And one of the most interesting is our block of the week: Basalt.
这就是我们在下界更新中除了加入新怪物和新资源以外，还加入了一批纯装饰用途的方块的原因。其中最有意思的一位就是我们的本周方块：玄武岩。

Basalt can only be found naturally in the extreme conditions of the Nether, though it’s possible to make it in the Overworld too. It forms in pillars in Soul Sand Valleys, and it’s also possible to find entire Basalt Deltas, where the very ground you walk on is primarily made up of basalt.
虽然你能在主世界人为地制出玄武岩，但它只会自然生成在下界的极端环境中。玄武岩组成了灵魂沙峡谷中的玄武岩柱。你还可能找到一大块玄武岩三角洲，它基本全由玄武岩构成。

It’s pretty easy to collect – hit it with a pickaxe and it’ll drop. You can also make it by flowing lava into a space above soul soil and next to blue ice. It’s pretty blast resistant, making it a good material for shelter building.
玄武岩十分易于开采，基本上镐子一敲就会掉落。你也可以让熔岩流过灵魂土上方且与蓝冰相邻，以此制得玄武岩。 玄武岩有着可观的爆炸抗性，是建造庇护所的理想材料。

Speaking of building, there are a couple of things you’ll need to know if you want to use basalt to its fullest. First is that it comes in two versions – raw and polished. You can convert the former into the latter in a stonecutter. Then the second is that they need to be placed carefully, like logs, so that the textures line up in the right direction.
说到建筑，如果你想将玄武岩的效用发挥到极致，就需要注意两件事。首先，玄武岩有两种变种：原始的和磨制的^[注1] ，你可以用切石机把玄武岩变为磨制玄武岩。再就是玄武岩必须像原木一样精细摆放，这样才能使它们的纹理朝向正确。

Realworld.jpg - Chmee2 // CC BY 3.0
Realworld（现实世界）.jpg —— Chmee2 // CC BY 3.0

Real-world basalt is one of the most common types of rock on Earth. You’ve almost certainly seen it in a photo, and you’ve possibly seen it in person too. The Giant’s Causeway, in Northern Ireland, is made of basalt. So is most of Hawai’i and Iceland. There are also impressive layers of basalt in the hills of Yellowstone National Park. It’s all over the place in volcanic regions.
现实世界中，玄武岩是最常见的岩石类型之一。你肯定在照片上见过这种岩石，说不定还亲眼看到过。北爱尔兰的巨人堤道就是玄武岩组成的，夏威夷岛和冰岛的大部分地区也是如此，黄石国家公园的山坡上同样有着令人叹为观止地玄武岩岩层。这种岩石在火山地区随处可见。

If nothing else, you’ve seen it on the Moon. The darker areas on the surface of the Moon are plains of basalt, formed in volcanic eruptions between about one and four billion years ago. Lunar basalts are slightly different from the ones on Earth – they have weird textures and minerals, mostly due to the lack of oxygen and water up there.
不出意外的话，你在月球上也能见到玄武岩。月球表面较暗的区域就是玄武岩平原，形成于 10 到 40 亿年前的火山喷发。月球上的玄武岩与地球上的有些许不同，它们有着奇特的纹理和矿物质，这主要是月球上缺少氧气和水分造成的。

Back on Earth, there are lots of different kinds of basalt rock that are created in different ways. If a volcano erupts in the air, the lava tends to form frothy-textured basalts, sometimes with lava tubes inside. If it flows more thickly, and cools fast, then fractures build up and split into polygons (like at the Giant’s Causeway). The faster it cools, the smaller the polygons.
目光回到地球。地球上有各式各样的玄武岩，其生成方式同样花样繁多。如果熔岩被喷发到空气中，它们往往就会形成泡沫结构的玄武岩，有时内部还会出现熔岩管道。^[注2] 如果熔岩更浓稠且冷却速率更快，所形成的玄武岩就会出现裂缝并爆裂成多边形（巨人堤道就是如此）。冷却速率越快，分裂成的多边形就越小。

Finally, if basalt erupts underwater or flows into the sea, then it’ll form distinctive “pillow” shapes that break apart sometimes to form a new pillow. This is pretty spectacular (and pretty dangerous) to watch! So when you’re exploring the new biomes coming in the Nether update, marvel at the basalt pillars and take a moment to wonder how they might have formed long ago.
最后，如果熔岩在水下喷发或者流入大海，就会形成奇特的的枕状玄武岩，有时还会爆裂开，形成新的“枕头”，^[注3] 这是个相当壮观的场面（但也很危险）！所以当你在即将到来的下界更新中探索新群系的过程中，惊叹于玄武岩柱的同时，也别忘了花上片刻来想想他们在遥远的岁月里是怎样形成的。



译者注：
[1] 在原文撰写时，玄武岩只有两种变种（即玄武岩和磨制玄武岩）；现（洞穴与山崖更新第一部分）玄武岩已有三种变种（玄武岩、磨制玄武岩及平滑玄武岩）。
[2] “火山活动停止时，首先岩浆固结（若是玄武岩，这一过程可产生柱状节理），然后火山颈内岩浆固结或者岩浆沿原有孔道退回地下会留下熔岩隧道。” - 火山喷发会如何影响周围环境？ - 杨溢的回答 - 知乎 https://www.zhihu.com/question/25561210/answer/31244529。
[3] “因为当岩浆与水接触时，冷却速度要快得多。在喷出后不久，海底基性熔岩流就会形成一个枕状外壳。枕状的外壳阻止了岩浆的流动，直到内部岩浆压力打破了外皮，然后一团新的熔岩喷涌而出，这团熔岩本身又固结成一个枕状外壳。” - 五、从地狱中升起：岩浆作用和火成岩-2(岩浆组分为何变化) - 长胖的罗汉果的文章 - 知乎 https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/156928832。





【Taskmgr.exe (aka Olvcpr423 ) 译自官网 2020 年 07 月 08 日发布的 Block of the Week: Basalt；原作者 Duncan Geere】
【本文排版借助了：SPX】