PT156.S1.P4.Q23

PrepTest 156 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 23

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P1

Discovered in 1993, the site known as Ukhaa Tolgod, in the Gobi desert of Mongolia, is one of the world's best sources of fossils from the Late Cretaceous period, which ended about 65 million years ago. ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ████ █ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███████████████ ████ ██████████ ███

Phenomenon · Well preserved fossils
How did they form?
███ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██ █████ ████████████ ███ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███
Hypothesis · Sandstorm buried the animals
████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████████

Hypothesis wrong · New evidence calls sandstorm hypothesis into question
P2

███ ██████████ █████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ███

Details of Phenomenon · Three different types of sandstone at the site
███ █████ ████████ █ ████████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ████████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███████ ████ █████████ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ████████ ████████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ███
1st Type · Well-defined structure
Consistent with sandstorm hypothesis...
███ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ████████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███
2nd Type · Tilt and layering
Also consistent with sandstorm hypothesis...
███ █████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██ ██ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ██████

3rd Type · No layering; contains large pebbles
Inconsistent with sandstorm hypothesis because the pebbles are too large to have been windblown. This is the type that contains all of the vertebrate skeletal fossils.
P3

████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ████████ █ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ██████ ████ ████ ███████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████████ █ ██████ ██████ █████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ██ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ █ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ █████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████

Alternate Hypothesis · Sand avalanche caused fossils
Avalanche trapped animals in its path, resulting in the pristine quality of the remains.
P4

███ █████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████ ███

Phenomenon · Avalanche / sandslides
What caused them?
████████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ █████████ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████████ █████████ █████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ █ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ████ █ ██████ █████ ███
Hypothesis · Unclear; clay played a role
Unclear but likely clay and rain played a role.
████████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ███
Evidence · Modern sand dunes
██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███ █ ███████ ███████ ███ █ ██████ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ███ █████

Implications of hypothesis · Sandslide hypothesis suggests area was not sterile desert
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Show answer
23.

According to the passage, which ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ██████████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████████

a

the existence of █████ ████████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ██████

The author describes three types of sandstone in P2, but doesn’t suggest that the fact these three types exist at the site have been considered evidence supporting the sandstorm hypothesis.

5%
b

the fact that ██████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ██ █████████ █████████

The author doesn’t mention unlayered sandstone in connection with support for the sandstorm hypothesis. It’s support for the sandslide hypothesis.

14%
c

the fact that █████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ █████████

Mentioned as a reason some supported the sandtorm hypothesis.

73%
d

the discovery of ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ██████

Dinosaur footprints are mentioned in P2, but not in connection with evidence for the sandstorm hypothesis.

3%
e

the fact that ████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ████ ██████

Clay is mentioned in P4, but has nothing to do with evidence for the sandstorm hypothesis. It relates to the sandslide hypothesis.

5%

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