Question

@meisen The last two lines suggest that wind and shade, which impact growth rates, must be factored in, which suggests that rather than eliminating conditions that impact growth rates, scientists must simply calculate their impact.

Why is D correct?

@Shiyi-Zhang, Happy to help. You asked why (D) is correct. Did you mean to ask why (D) is incorrect? The correct answer is (B). I'll assume this is what you meant; if it's not, feel free to reply with what you meant. The question asks, "Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the passage?" (D) says, "Radiocarbon dating is more accurate than lichenometry in dating earthquakes that occurred approximately 400 years ago." The problem with this answer choice is that the last paragraph of the passage tells us that the opposite is actually true and that lichenometry has a functional limit of 500 years. The last paragraph tells us that lichenometry has some distinct advantages over radiocarbon dating. For one, radiocarbon dating is only accurate to within plus or minus 40 years, whereas lichenometry is accurate to within 10 years. Secondly, we're told that lichenometry is best used for earthquakes within the last 500 years. This gives us enough information to rule out (D). (B) says, "Radiocarbon dating is unlikely to be helpful in dating past earthquakes that have no identifiable fault lines associated with them." (B) is supposed by line 3 of the text. In line 3, we're told that radiocarbon dating involves using visible fault lines, so this answer has direct support from the text. We can select (B). Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!