Over the Past Century, the United States Population has Continued to Grow

Reading Passage Question

Over the past century, the United States population has continued to grow and so has the amount of hurricane activity along the Gulf and Atlantic coastlines. For meteorologists, a better understanding of storm frequency and characteristics can assist in hurricane forecasts, which in turn guides infrastructure planning and even insurance rates. Unfortunately, fewer than 200 years of historical weather records exist in the U.S., and in that time only a handful of category 5 hurricane—the most destructive tropical cyclones—have made landfall. This paucity of data presents a challenge in accurately predicting the likelihood of future devastating storms. Consequently, some researchers have turned to a relatively new field, paleotempestology, which examines geologic evidence of prehistoric hurricane landfalls to better understand the frequency with which they occur.

In one early study, Liu and Fearn extracted sediment samples from a lake in Louisiana that was isolated from the Gulf of Mexico by a narrow barrier beach: only a storm could cause water and materials to flow from the ocean to the lake. By analyzing the overwash layers, the layers of coarse beach sediment observable on the bottom of the lake, the scientists were able to produce a rough storm history for the region, dating back several thousand years. Some have questioned this method, however, as it does not conclusively verify the sediments’ provenance.

Another paleotempestological strategy relies on offshore-indicative foraminifera, single-celled organisms that are similarly thought to have arrived in a body of water via storm surges. Unlike sediments, which may be of unknown origin, if a species of foraminifera is native to the sea, its presence in a body of water adjacent to a barrier beach provides more compelling evidence as to the necessity of a historic storm. Nonetheless, Hippensteel’s and Martin’s method, too, must be qualified: scientists disagree about precisely which taxa are considered “offshore-indicative,” and dating methods used on foraminifera fossils merely demonstrate the age of the fossils, not necessarily when a hurricane might have occurred.

Although scientists have produced estimates of hurricane recurrence rates, the limitations of paleotempestological research temper the reliability of such predictions. Moreover, longterm changes in weather and climate affect the frequency of tropical storms, which further casts doubt on the field’s ability to relate past storm data to the potential for future hurricanes.

“Over the past century, the United States population has continued to grow” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 3 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

Question 1
Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?

1. After introducing an area of research, the author outlines its history and then casts doubt on its credibility.
2. The author describes a problem, evaluates two approaches to the problem, and then questions the usefulness of a field of study.
3. The author explains the origins of a scientific field and refutes potential criticisms to the field.
4. After comparing two methodologies, the author demonstrates why one is superior to the other.
5. After illustrating a scientific dilemma, the author explores differing perspectives on the dilemma and then reconciles the viewpoints.

Question 2
According to the passage, which of the following is a potential drawback to the sediment analysis method mentioned in the second paragraph?

1. Scientists’ inability to easily access overwash layers deep below a lake
2. The difficulty in proving precisely where the sediments came from
3. Incomplete knowledge regarding what types of sediments might have oceanic origins
4. Disagreement among researchers as to the validity of fossil evidence
5. The lack of reliability in current methods for dating sediments

Question 3
It can be inferred from the passage that the two research methods described in the passage have which of the following in common?

1. They involved bodies of water that were not connected to oceans.
2. They were conducted in Louisiana.
3. They did not provide useful paleotempestological data.
4. They used historical records in conjunction with ecological data to construct storm timelines.
5. Their validity has been rejected by most meteorologists.

Question 4
Each of the following is mentioned as a potential benefit of paleotempestological research EXCEPT

1. the ability to predict hurricanes
2. accurate regional insurance rates
3. planning of structural facilities
4. a greater understanding of hurricane patterns
5. preventing destructive hurricanes

Suggested GMAT Reading Comprehension Questions

• Most Farmers Attempting to Control Slugs and Snails Turn to Baited Slug Poison, or Molluscicide.
• In a New Book About the Antiparty Feeling of the Early Political Leaders of the United States
• Colonial Historian David Allen's Intensive Study of Five Communities in Seventeenth-Century
• In the 1980's, Astronomer Bohdan Paczynski Proposed a Way of Determining Whether the Enormous Dark Halo Constituting the Outermost Part of the Milky Way Galaxy
• The General Density Dependence Model can be Applied to Explain the Founding of Specialist Firms
• Many People Believe that Wages are Lower in Developing Countries than in Developed Countries
• More Selective than Most Chemical Pesticides in that they Ordinarily Destroy only Unwanted Species
• Citing the Fact that the Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita was Higher in 1997
• Historians have Identified Two Dominant Currents in the Russian Women's Movement of the Late Tsarist Period.
• Some Historians Contend that Conditions in the United States During the Second World War
• Comparable Worth, as a Standard Applied to Eliminate Inequities in Pay
• The United States Government has a Long-Standing Policy of Using Federal Funds to Keep Small Business Viable.
• A Recent Study has Provided Clues to Predator-Prey Dynamics in the Late Pleistocene Era.
• Even More Than Mountainside Slides of Mud or Snow, Naturally Occurring Forest Fires Promote the Survival of Aspen Trees.
• The Black Death, a Severe Epidemic that Ravaged Fourteenth Century Europe
• The System of Patent-Granting, Which Confers Temporary Monopolies for the Exploitation of New Technologies
• Ethnohistoric Documents from Sixteenth-Century Mexico Suggesting that Weaving and Cooking were the Most Common Productive Activities for Aztec Women
• Solar Ponds are Bodies of Water in Which Circulation is Incomplete and There is a Very High Salt Concentration that Increases with Depth
• Traditional Social Science Models of Class Groups in the United States are Based on Economic Status
• Conventional Wisdom has it that Large Deficits in the United States Budget Cause Interest Rates to Rise.