Geologists have long known that the Earth’s mantle is heterogeneous, but its spatial arrangement remains unresolved—is the mantle essentially layered or irregularly heterogeneous? The best evidence for the layered mantle thesis is the well-established fact that volcanic rocks found on oceanic islands, islands believed to result from mantle plumes arising from the lower mantle, are composed of material fundamentally different from that of the midocean ridge system, whose source, most geologists contend, is the upper mantle. Some geologists, however, on the basis of observations concerning mantle xenoliths, argue that the mantle is not layered, but that heterogeneity is created by fluids rich in “incompatible elements” (elements tending toward liquid rather than solid state) percolating upward and transforming portions of the upper mantle irregularly, according to the vagaries of the fluids’ pathways. We believe, perhaps unimaginatively, that this debate can be resolved through further study, and that the underexplored midocean ridge system is the key. 20. The authors suggest that their proposal for determining the nature of the mantle’s heterogeneity might be considered by many to be (A) pedestrian (B) controversial (C) unrealistic (D) novel (E) paradoxical 这是一道态度题,这种题我总是做错,此题选A,我选的是B,不明白到底从哪里可以看出选A啊,难道是unimaginatively? 请大牛指点迷津!!再说说这类题的做题方法 多谢了 |