#1 - French divers recently found a large cave along the

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (B)

Two important facts are presented within this stimulus: (1) the interior of the cave is now completely filled with water, and (2) the cave contains stalagmites, which are formed when drops of water fall to the cave floor. One might infer that in a cave completely filled with water, it would be difficult for drops of water to hit the floor. The stimulus allows us to infer, then, that the conditions must have been different in the cave when the stalagmites were formed.

Answer choice (A): This claim is not supported by the information in the stimulus. The only inference that can be properly drawn is about the water level within the cave, not that of the Mediterranean Sea as a whole. Also, the information in the stimulus suggests that the water level is higher now than it was in the past, not lower as in this answer.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. For the stalagmites to form, water drops must have been able to fall to the cave floor. To allow for this to happen, the water level in the cave must have been lower than its current level, at which it is "completely filled."

Answer choice (C): There is no indication that this is true. Just because they "found" the tunnel does not mean that no one else could have "found" it before them.

Answer choice (D): There is no evidence of this in the stimulus. There is no reason given that the cave must have been accessible without using the underwater tunnel.

Answer choice (E): There is nothing in the stimulus to support this. If stalagmites are no longer forming, the stimulus suggests that it is because water drops can no longer fall to the floor because the cave is flooded.

[Sophia123]

Hi!

I was just reviewing this exam and I found that I was a little stuck on deciding between B and E. B very clearly stuck out as the right answer, but for answer choice E is it correct to think about the cave as being part of the Mediterranean? Therefore, the overall mineral content has not decreased in the Mediterranean - it has simply shifted from the main part of the sea to the cave portion of the sea?

Thank you in advance!

[Ricky_Hutchens]

Hi Sophia,

With the information found in the stimulus, we can't really say anything about the mineral content in either the cave or the Mediterranean. We know that stalagmites are formed by the build up of minerals in one spot as water drops hit the ground. The stimulus doesn't say that this build up of minerals in one spot had any impact on the overall mineral content of the sea.

[saygracealways]

Hi PowerScore,

I'm a bit confused about the diagramming in this stimulus.

I interpreted the stimulus as:
Cave is accessible underwater tunnel ("only" is a necessary condition indicator word)
Water drops fall repeatedly on a single spot on a cave floor Stalagmites form (diagrammed it this way because "when" is a sufficient condition indicator word)
Present state of cave: Completely filled with seawater and has many stalagmites

In your explanation you wrote "For the stalagmites to form, water drops must have been able to fall to the cave floor. To allow for this to happen, the water level in the cave must have been lower than its current level, at which it is 'completely filled'".
Wouldn't this, however, be considered a Mistaken Reversal (Stalagmites form Water drops fall repeatedly on a single spot on a cave floor)? Could you please let me know if I'm interpreting this correctly and why answer choice (B) is correct?

Thank you so much and hope to hear from you soon!

[Adam Tyson]

You're doing a bit too much to force this stimulus into a conditional framework, saygracealways. The presence of a word like "when" does not automatically require a conditional approach, because sometimes it just indicates a chronological or even causal relationship. There is no "if this, then that" structure to that statement about how stalagmites form, because it is just describing a process. The indication that this relationship is causal, rather than conditional, is the more active language about forming - the stalagmites form when water droplets leave minerals, so the minerals in the water droplets are causing the stalagmites to form. Without those water drops you don't get stalagmites - no cause, no effect.

My favorite approach to this stimulus is neither conditional nor causal, but simply to visualize it. Picture yourself in that underwater cave, filled with water, wearing your scuba gear and looking at stalagmites on the floor of the cave. How did they get there, if they are formed by falling drops of water? It must be that sometime in the past, the cave had little to no water in it, so that droplets would form and fall and land on a floor. And there's the right answer!

[saygracealways]

Thank you, Adam, that helps a ton! Will try to not force sentences into the conditional reasoning structure!