PT132.S1.P1.Q1 > Analytics

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To study centuries-old earthquakes and the geologic faults that caused them, seismologists usually dig trenches along visible fault lines, looking for sediments that show evidence of having shifted. ███

Intro topic · Methods for studying causes of past earthquakes

Start by looking for buried sediments that shifted during a possible earthquake

Explain method · Use carbon 14 to back-date when material shifted (i.e., when possible earthquake occurred)

Carbon 14 is a radioactive form of carbon that decays (i.e., turns into a different form of carbon) at a known rate, so the amount of carbon 14 left in something can tell us how old that thing is

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Application of method · Determine details of past earthquakes, predict future earthquakes

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Intro new method · Lichenometry

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Explain new method · Use lichen growth to back-date rockfalls in mountain ranges

Lichens begin growing on rocks after an earthquake causes rockfalls; because they grow at a known rate, the size of a lichen patch on a rock can tell us when that rock first fell

Application of new method · If many rockfalls occurred at the same time, that suggests an earthquake

Earthquake was strongest where the most number of rockfalls occurred

Support for lichenometry · over carbon 14 dating

Carbon 14 dating is less accurate because it can be hard to know how much carbon 14 the material started with (just knowing the rate of carbon 14 decay on its own can't tell us how old that material is)

Limitations of lichenometry · Limited time period, complications related to site selection

Passage Style

Single position

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████

Lichenometry is a ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ███████

This best captures the main point of the passage, which is to tell us about lichenometry and its advantages.

93%

Despite its limitations, ████████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████████████

There’s no support for the claim that lichenometry is more accurate than “any other method” of discerning dates of past earthquakes. The author only compares lichenometry to radiocarbon dating.

Most seismologists today ████ ████████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████████

There’s no support for the claim that “most” seismologists have rejected radiocarbon dating.

Two geologists have ██████████████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██ ██████████ █████████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███ ███████

There’s no support for the claim that lichenometry is “easily applied.”

Radiocarbon dating, an ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████████████ ███ ████ ██████████

The author doesn’t suggest that radiocarbon dating can be abandoned.

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