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Information and IdeasMediumInference from a temperature record

Information and Ideas practice question

Ice cores from a mountain glacier contain a layer of volcanic ash, and the ice just above the ash layer shows several years of unusually cold summers. The nearest volcano is 400 kilometres away. This suggests that ____

Which choice most logically completes the text?

  1. A. a large eruption spread ash across the region and cooled the following summers.Correct
  2. B. the glacier was formed by the volcano.
  3. C. the ash fell during a period of unusual warmth.
  4. D. the volcano is too far away to have affected the glacier.

Answer: A. a large eruption spread ash across the region and cooled the following summers.

Ash, then cold summers immediately above it: an eruption whose effects reached 400 km.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. the glacier was formed by the volcano.
Glaciers form from snow; the text doesn't suggest otherwise.
C. the ash fell during a period of unusual warmth.
The ice above the ash shows cold summers, not warmth.
D. the volcano is too far away to have affected the glacier.
The ash's presence shows the volcano did reach the glacier.

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