Self-study
Surprisingly, a new study has revealed that shortly after a heavy rainfall, pollution levels in Crystal Bay reach their highest levels. ████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ █████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ████████ █████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why are pollution levels in Crystal Bay highest shortly after a heavy rainfall, even though rainwater doesn’t contain pollution, so we would expect rainwater to dilute the polluted seawater?
Objective
The correct answer should tell us something about heavy rainfall that might lead to an overall increase in pollution, even if the water in rainwater doesn’t contain pollution.
6.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ █████ █ █████ █████████
a
Compared to the █████ ██████ ██ ████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ ███████████
This would lead us to expect rainfall to leave pollution levels unchanged. But we’re trying to explain why there’s an increase in pollution levels after rainfall.
b
Most of the █████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █████████████████ ██████ ██████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ████
This suggests that, although the rainwater itself doesn’t contain pollution, it can carry or otherwise bring pollution (pesticides) into the bay. This can help explain why pollution levels increase shortly after heavy rainfall.
c
Most rainwater carried ██ ██████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████
We have no reason to think rainwater from evaporation is particularly pollution-heavy compared to other kinds of rainwater. And, we know that rainwater is “almost totally pure.” So, we’d still expect rainfall not to increase pollution levels.
d
The single leading █████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██████ █████ █████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████
There may be other, more significant sources of pollution, such as beachgoers’ trash. But we don’t have any reason to think beachgoing increases or the amount of trash left increases after heavy rainfall. So, we still wouldn’t expect pollution levels to be highest after rain.
e
Other nearby ocean █████ ██████████ █ ███████ ██ █████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ████
Even if other areas experience higher pollution levels after rainfall, that doesn’t explain why this pattern occurs in Crystal Bay. We’re still left without any reason to think the pollution levels would increase after heavy rain.