Why A?

@Hunter, Happy to help. Let's take a look at both (A) and (C). The question asks, "Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the passage?" (C) says, "Compass readings are more likely to become distorted at sea than on land." The problem with (C) is it's too general. It depends largely upon where on land you are vs. where at sea you are. If you're near a bunch of magnets on land, then your compass is going to be more likely to get distorted. Thus, we can get rid of (C). (A) says, "Submarine basalt found near the continents is likely to be some of the oldest rock on the ocean floor." From the passage, we have information about the evidence that supports the ocean floor changing theory. Lines 30-40 tell us about the mid-ocean ridge, and there we learn that the ocean floor is being pulled apart along the ridge crest. New magma from deep within the earth rises easily through these weak zones and eventually erupts along the crest of the ridges to create new oceanic crust. From this, we can infer that the newer rocks are near the crest of the mid-ocean ridge (where the new magma comes up), and the older rocks are farther away from the ridge and closer to the continents. Thus, (A) is the correct answer, as it's strongly supported by lines 30-40 of the passage. Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions!

Thank you! It does make sense, and I see why C was too far a jump now.

Thanks for the above. I chose E here, and while I understand that there are only two polar possibilities (current and reversed), which flip-flop back and forth, I understood "any rock that exhibits present–day magnetic polarity was formed after the latest reversal of the earth's magnetic field" to mean just that - and even re-reading it, I still do. Obviously it's wrong, so I'm misunderstanding something here. Would you also be able to eliminate because it says "any".