PrepTest 114, Section 1, Question 9
Some scientists believe that 65 million years ago(96 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(20 more words not shown)
- ALoss of the(12 more words not shown)
- BDinosaurs inhabited most(16 more words not shown)
- CA cloud of(20 more words not shown)
- DThe asteroid was(23 more words not shown)
- EDinosaurs were susceptible(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If the dust settled too soon, what killed the dinosaurs?
The proposed story connects an asteroid strike to debris in the air, less sunlight, disappearing food, and dangerous cold. Then the passage gives us a problem: most of the debris would have settled within six months. The scientists still think the asteroid caused extinction, even though that period was too short for the stated losses of plants or for the dinosaurs to freeze.
What we’re looking for
My first thought is to look for a lingering effect of the strike. Could debris on the ground damage plants? Could a cold period somehow continue? Those are guesses to test against the information, not facts we can add. The question asks why the scientists could maintain their conclusion despite the short time the debris stayed aloft. We need a way for the strike to remain an explanation of the extinction.
Working the answers
- A
Losing herbivores could deprive carnivores of food, but that just adds a later step to the food-chain explanation. We still need to account for the loss of the herbivores when the passage says the plants wouldn't disappear that quickly. A doesn't solve the problem at that earlier step.
- B
Having dinosaurs spread across landmasses doesn't explain their extinction from this strike. Saying relatively few lived near the impact may make a direct local effect a less complete explanation. We need a way the asteroid could cause the broader loss, not merely information about where dinosaurs lived.
- C
This quantifies the cooling, but we were already told the debris could cool the atmosphere. The problem is how long the effect lasts: the passage explicitly says six months was too soon for the dinosaurs to freeze.
That is a limit my initial cold-period guess has to respect. We can't resolve the discrepancy by simply insisting the dinosaurs froze during a period the passage says was too short. C doesn't give us a longer-lasting effect or a different fatal mechanism, so it doesn't supply the missing explanation.
- D
The strike and tidal waves could explain many immediate deaths. But that leaves the larger extinction unexplained, especially for dinosaurs outside those direct effects. D supplies a limited route to some deaths without addressing why the asteroid could account for the loss of dinosaurs more broadly despite the duration problem.
- ECorrect
The debris could be fatal through breathing problems, rather than through starvation or freezing. The six-month limit was a problem for those two proposed mechanisms; it doesn't establish that contaminated air couldn't cause fatal respiratory problems during that period.
This is a different route from my first guesses. The strike could cause lethal harm while the debris was present, without waiting for the plants to disappear or for prolonged cold to kill the dinosaurs. E doesn't prove the whole historical account, but it gives the scientists a relevant alternative mechanism and makes their continued conclusion less puzzling.
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