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  3. IMPACTS AND MASS EXTINCTIONS (1) Meteorites and impact craters bear witness to the fact that large impacts occasionally occu

IMPACTS AND MASS EXTINCTIONS (1) Meteorites and impact craters bear witness to the fact that large impacts occasionally occu

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问题                                         IMPACTS AND MASS EXTINCTIONS
    (1) Meteorites and impact craters bear witness to the fact that large impacts occasionally occur on Earth. Barringer Meteor Crater in the northern Arizona desert of the United States formed about 50,000 years ago when a metallic impactor roughly 50 meters across crashed to Earth with the explosive power of a 20-megaton hydrogen bomb. Although the crater is only slightly more than one kilometer across, an area covering hundreds of square kilometers was probably battered by the blast and ejecta—the debris ejected or displaced during the formation of an impact crater. Far bigger impacts have occurred, sometimes with catastrophic consequences for life on Earth.
    (2) While collecting geological samples in Italy in 1978, the father-son team of Luis and Walter Alvarez discovered a thin layer of dark sediment that had apparently been deposited 65 million years ago—at about the same time that the dinosaurs and many other organisms suddenly became extinct. Subsequent studies found similar sediment deposited at the same time at many sites around the world. Careful analysis showed this worldwide sediment layer to be rich in iridium, an element that is rare on Earth’s surface. But iridium is common in primitive meteorites, which led the Alvarezes to a stunning conclusion: the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by the impact of an asteroid or comet. This conclusion was not immediately accepted and still generates some controversy, but it now seems clear that a major impact coincided with the death of the dinosaurs. While the dinosaurs were the most famous victims of this mass extinction, it seems that up to 99 percent of all living things were killed and that 75 percent of all species living on Earth were wiped out at that time.
    (3) How could an impact lead to mass extinction? The amount of iridium deposited worldwide suggests that the impactor must have been about 10 kilometers across. After a decade-long search, scientists identified what appears to be the impact crater from the event. Located off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, it is 200 kilometers across, which is close to what one would expect for a 10-kilometer impactor, and dates to 65 million years ago. Further evidence that the Yucatan crater is the right one comes from the distribution of small glassy spheres that formed when the molten impact ejecta solidified as it rained back to Earth. [A] More of these glassy spheres are found in regions near the crater, and careful study of their distribution suggests that the impactor crashed to Earth at a slight angle. [B] These pieces of once molten rock are evidence of an explosion powerful enough to instantly melt bedrock and propel it far from its origin. [C] The impact almost immediately sent a shower of debris raining across much of North and South America and generated huge waves that may have sloshed more than 1,000 kilometers inland. [D] Many North American species thus may have been wiped out shortly after impact. For the rest of the world, death may have come more slowly. Heat from the impact and returning ejecta probably ignited wildfires in forests around the world. Evidence of wildfires is found in the large amount of soot (a black powdery form of carbon produced when coal, wood, or oil is burned) that is also present in the iridium-rich sediment from 65 million years ago. The impact also sent huge quantities of dust high into the stratosphere, where it remained for several years, blocking out sunlight, cooling the surface, and affecting atmospheric chemistry. Plants died for lack of sunlight, and effects propagated throughout the food chain.
    (4) Perhaps the most, astonishing fact is not that 75 percent of all species died, but that 25 percent survived. Among the survivors were a few small, rodent-like mammals. These mammals may have survived because they lived in underground burrows and managed to store enough food to outlast the long spell of cold, dark days. Small mammals had first arisen at about the same time as the dinosaurs, more than 100 million years earlier. But the sudden disappearance of the dominant dinosaurs made these mammals dominant.
Look at the four squares [ ■ ] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
As a result, molten material was pushed out toward the north with small glass spheres found more than 2,500 kilometers to the northwest.
Where would the sentence best fit?
选项
答案C
解析 本题属于插入句子题，插入句意为“结果，已熔化的物质被推向北边，在西北边2,500多千米的地方发现了小玻璃球。”这是对爆炸所造成的结果的进一步阐述。句中有As a result，那么上文应该说的是与已熔化的物质移位相关的内容，C处前有与此相关的内容，可与插入句相衔接。插入句出现As a result，说明前一句应该会出现与熔融物质改变方向相关的情况，但是A、B、D三处前的内容均与此无关，故都不选。
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