Explanation ·When basalt cools, it records the earth's polarity at that time
Basalt begins as magma; it contains magnetic material that freely aligns with the earth's magnetic field at the time; when it cools down to form solid basalt, the alignment is locked in.
Global mid-ocean ridge contains stripes of basalt with alternating polarities. Imagine a zebra's stripes where the white stripes point north and the black stripes point south.
New explanation is that the ocean floor is not static. It has been changing as new magma erupts from the ridge. The magma spreads out away from the ridge and cools to lock in the polarity.
Evidence Supporting New Theory ·3 pieces of evidence
Rocks near ridge crest are young; the youngest rocks have normal polarity; the bands of magnetic orientation as recorded by rocks are corroborated by known age of magnetic reversals.
Notice how the author begins the last paragraph: “[The theory that the mid-ocean ridges mark structurally weak zones where the ocean floor is being pulled apart] was supported by several lines of evidence.” The rest of the last paragraph provides evidence supporting the theory. The reference to “correlation” is part of the supporting evidence. We know this because the author introduces the sentence containing “correlation” with “Finally,” which indicates that we are getting another piece of evidence following the evidence mentioned in the line beginning, “First,” and the line beginning, “Further.”
Although the author mentions that the correlation in the last sentence is based on the assumption that the ocean floor spreads only several centimeters per year, this doesn’t prove that the correlation is used to indicate or prove the speed of ocean floor spreading.
b
explains the existence ██ ███ ██████ █████████ █████
The reference to correlation isn’t part of an attempt to explain the existence of the mid-ocean ridge. The attempt to explain the mid-ocean ridge is the ocean floor spreading theory.
c
demonstrates that the ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ████████
The author never suggests the correlation mentioned in the last sentence proves anything about the strength of the magnetic field. The correlation relates to the direction of magnetic orientation, not the strength of magnetic force.
This best captures the purpose, which is to provide evidence supporting the ocean floor spreading theory.
e
reveals that the ███████ ████████ █████████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████ █████████
There’s no evidence that the earth’s reversals have occurred at “very regular intervals.” We don’t know that the time between each reversal is about the same. Although we do know that there’s a correlation between the duration of a particular orientation before the field reverses and the striping pattern in the ocean, this doesn’t imply regularity to the reversals. Maybe some reversals take a thousand years, others take five hundred thousand years.
Difficulty
87% of people who answer get this correct
This is a slightly challenging question.
It is significantly easier than other questions in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%130
141
75%153
Analysis
Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)
Structure
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis
Science
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
1%
153
b
2%
157
c
2%
153
d
87%
164
e
8%
158
Question history
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