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  3. Milankovitch proposed in the early twentieth century that the ice ages were caused by variations in the Earth’s orbit around the

Milankovitch proposed in the early twentieth century that the ice ages were caused by variations in the Earth’s orbit around the

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问题     Milankovitch proposed in the early twentieth century that the ice ages were caused by variations in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Eor sometime this the-  ory was considered untestable, largely because there was no sufficiently precise chronology of the ice ages with which the orbital variations could be matched.
    To establish such a chronology it is necessary to determine the relative amounts of land ice that existed at various times in the Earth’s past. A recent discovery makes such a determination possible: relative land-ice volume for a given period can be deduced from the ratio of two oxygen isotopes, 16 and 18, found in ocean sediments. Almost all the oxygen in water is oxygen 16, but a few molecules out of every thou- sand incorporate the heavier isotope 18. When an ice age begins, the continental ice sheets grow, steadily reducing the amount of water evaporated from the ocean that will eventually return to it. Because heavier isotopes tend to be left-behind when water evaporates from the ocean surfaces, the remaining ocean wator becomes progressively enriched in oxygen 18. The degree of enrichment can be determined by analyzing ocean sediments of the period, because these sediments are composed of calcium carbonate shells of marine organisms, shells that were constructed with oxy- gen atoms drawn from the surrounding ocean. The higher the ratio of oxygen 18 to oxygen 16 in a sedimentary specimen, the more land ice there was when the sediment was laid down.
    As an indicator of shifts in the Earth’s climate, the isotope record has two advantages. First, it is a global record: there is remarkably little variation in isotope ratios in sedimentary specimens taken from different continental locations. Second, it is a more continuous record than that taken from rocks on land. Because of these advantages, sedimentary evidence can be dat- ed with sufficient accuracy by radiometric methods to establish a precise chronology of the ice ages. The dated isotope record shows that the fluctuations in global ice volume over the past several hundred thousand years have a pattern: an ice age occurs roughly once every 100,000 years. These data have established a strong connection between variations in the Earth’s orbit and the periodicity of the ice ages.
    However, it is important to note that other factors, such as volcanic particulates or variations in the amount of sunlight received by the Earth, could potentially have affected the climate. The advantage of the Milankovitch theory is that it is testable: changes in the Earth’s orbit can be calculated and dated by applying Newton’s laws of gravity to progressively earlier configurations of the bodies in the solar system. Yet the lack of information about other possible factors affecting global climate does not make them unimportant.
It can be inferred from the passage that the isotope record taken from ocean sediments would be less useful to researchers if which of the following were true?
选项 A、It indicated that lighter isotopes of oxygen predominated at certain times.
B、It had far more gaps in its sequence than the record taken from rocks on land.
C、It indicated that climate shifts did not occur every 100,000 years.
D、It indicated that the ratios of oxygen 16 and oxygen 18 in ocean water were not consistent with those found in fresh water.
E、It stretched back for only a million years.
答案B
解析 下面哪一个选项成立，从海底取得的同位素记录用处会下降?原文LA2—48，此方法之所以有用处是由于两个原因：1、全球性，2、延续性。如果其中一条不存在，其正确性将大受影响。B．正确。比之于从陆地上获得的资料，在连续性上存在更大的间隔。A、C、D、E和原文的论述是无关的。
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