PrepTest 106, Section 4, Question 9
Long after the lava has cooled, the effects(450 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(21 more words not shown)
- Aan eruption that(10 more words not shown)
- Ban eruption that(15 more words not shown)
- Can eruption whose(15 more words not shown)
- Dan eruption that(10 more words not shown)
- Ean eruption that(18 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Minor means small, but small in what respect? Look at the contrast with “major, dust-spitting explosions.” The subject is debris thrown into the atmosphere, where it could block sunlight. That helps us distinguish the size of the eruption from the temperature effect the researchers subsequently measure.
Working the answers
- A
The amount of lava isn't the distinction drawn here. We're concerned with material introduced into the atmosphere.
- B
The study does find a smaller temperature effect for minor eruptions. But a finding about their effects isn't what makes them minor eruptions. Think of describing children as generally shorter than adults: height may be a difference, but age is what makes them children. Here, atmospheric debris is the relevant basis for the label; cooling is the result being studied.
- C
Masking describes a complication in measuring volcanic effects. It doesn't characterize a minor eruption. After El Niño is removed, these eruptions have no discernible temperature effect in the study.
- DCorrect
A relatively small amount of atmospheric debris fits the contrast with major, dust-spitting eruptions. Small doesn't mean no debris at all.
- E
Less than half a degree doesn't distinguish minor from major: the measured cooling from major eruptions is itself no more than 0.5°C (paragraph 3). This substitutes a temperature result for the type of eruption being described.
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