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Scientist: Cross-sections of stalactites - calcite formations deposite
[#permalink]
27 Jun 2022, 21:43
Expert Reply
Question 1
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33% (02:36) correct
67% (02:16) wrong based on 6 sessions
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Scientist: Cross-sections of stalactites - calcite formations deposited on cave ceilings by seeping water - can reveal annual variations in rainfall in particular areas over hundreds and thousands of years. We often found that when - according to these cross-sections - drought occurred in a particular area, it coincided with the collapse of an ancient society in that area. I hypothesize that drought reduced agricultural productivity in these areas, thereby leaving these societies without the resources needed to handle internal stresses and external threats.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the support for the scientist's hypothesis?
A. Many droughts indicated in the cross-sections of stalactites do not correspond with the collapse of a society in that area.
B. Information from the cross-sections of stalactites alone cannot reveal the level of agricultural output in an area at a particular time.
C. Most of the societies that collapsed during droughts did so when internal power struggles coincided with military raids from neighboring societies.
D. Most of the societies that collapsed during droughts maintained large stockpiles of food and water at the time of their collapse.
E. Information from stalactites also suggests that the collapse of some societies coincided with periods of abnormally high rainfall.
Re: Scientist: Cross-sections of stalactites - calcite formations deposite
[#permalink]
30 Jun 2022, 00:22
GeminiHeat wrote:
Scientist: Cross-sections of stalactites - calcite formations deposited on cave ceilings by seeping water - can reveal annual variations in rainfall in particular areas over hundreds and thousands of years. We often found that when - according to these cross-sections - drought occurred in a particular area, it coincided with the collapse of an ancient society in that area. I hypothesize that drought reduced agricultural productivity in these areas, thereby leaving these societies without the resources needed to handle internal stresses and external threats.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the support for the scientist's hypothesis?
A. Many droughts indicated in the cross-sections of stalactites do not correspond with the collapse of a society in that area.
B. Information from the cross-sections of stalactites alone cannot reveal the level of agricultural output in an area at a particular time.
C. Most of the societies that collapsed during droughts did so when internal power struggles coincided with military raids from neighboring societies.
D. Most of the societies that collapsed during droughts maintained large stockpiles of food and water at the time of their collapse.
E. Information from stalactites also suggests that the collapse of some societies coincided with periods of abnormally high rainfall.
Scientist: Cross-sections of stalactites - calcite formations deposite
[#permalink]
30 Jun 2022, 00:45
2
Expert Reply
A very beautiful and clever question. Weakener and causal effects both are merged to make this absolutely gorgeous question
If you read the argument carefully and see its conclusion you will see :- (1) Society's downfall is correlated to the lack of agricultural resources" ; (2)Draught is mentioned just as a factor that generally brings the above mentioned lack of resources. (3)Stalactites is a red herring to confuse test taker and make him read extraneous useless information.
SO in essence it is lack of agricultural productivity that causes society's downfall. A weakener will suggest that lack of agricultural productivity does not causes downfall
Option D is telling us that when society fell it has ample agricultural products , therefore society's fall cannot be attributed to the lack of agricultural resources. D. Most of the societies that collapsed during droughts maintained large stockpiles of food and water at the time of their collapse.
THE REASON FOR DOWNFALL IS SOMETHING ELSE AS SHOWN BY OPTION D. IT WEAKENS THE ARGUMENT. THUS D IS THE CORRECT WEAKENER
D IS THE ANSWER
SivhHarish wrote:
GeminiHeat wrote:
Scientist: Cross-sections of stalactites - calcite formations deposited on cave ceilings by seeping water - can reveal annual variations in rainfall in particular areas over hundreds and thousands of years. We often found that when - according to these cross-sections - drought occurred in a particular area, it coincided with the collapse of an ancient society in that area. I hypothesize that drought reduced agricultural productivity in these areas, thereby leaving these societies without the resources needed to handle internal stresses and external threats.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the support for the scientist's hypothesis?
A. Many droughts indicated in the cross-sections of stalactites do not correspond with the collapse of a society in that area.
B. Information from the cross-sections of stalactites alone cannot reveal the level of agricultural output in an area at a particular time.
C. Most of the societies that collapsed during droughts did so when internal power struggles coincided with military raids from neighboring societies.
D. Most of the societies that collapsed during droughts maintained large stockpiles of food and water at the time of their collapse.
E. Information from stalactites also suggests that the collapse of some societies coincided with periods of abnormally high rainfall.
Explanation pls!
gmatclubot
Scientist: Cross-sections of stalactites - calcite formations deposite [#permalink]