ACT Practice Article: Social Science

The author's attitude toward the main subject of the passage can best be described as:

• Awe and fascination
• Disbelief and cynicism
• Amusement and nostalgia
• Boredom and indifference

The passage makes clear that "Middle Ground," "Telegraph Plateau," and "Dolphin Rise were names that people gave to what was actually:

• An island in the Atlantic
• A transatlantic telegraph cable
• An ancient and drown land bridge
• the immense mountain range in the Atlantic's Basin

In the first paragraph, the author describes the stillness of the Sargasso Sea as the Cramer passes through it primarily to emphasize that the stillness:

• Won't last long for the sea will become rough when the wind rises
• makes it easy for a passenger on the Cramer to spot oceanic islands that break the water's surface
• is in dramatic contrast to the power of what exists on and under the seafloor far below
• makes it seem as if the Cramer's wake is diving the unbroken expanse of water in two.

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The passage states that compared to Arizona's Grand Canyon, the canyon that lies within the mountains in the Atlantic's basin is considerably

• deeper
• older
• wider
• longer

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The main purpose of the information in lines 71-76 is to

• describe in details scientists' expectations for their first trip to the rift valley
• characterize the rift valley as an alien, seemingly barren place
• provide statistics about several geographic properties of the rift valley
• list the names that scientists gave t the volcanic hills in the rift valley

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One of the main purposes of the last paragraph is to state that the

• gashes in the rift valley continue to increase in width
• seafloor of the Atlantic has cooled
• Entire Atlantic seafloor has issued from gashes in the rift valley
• Volcanoes on Earth's dry land have created the newest, youngest pieces of the Atlantic seafloor

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The author most strongly implies that people commonly assume the deepest waters of the ocean are

• about 1000 miles off shore
• at the middle of the ocean
• dotted with islands
• located in trenches

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As it is used in line 19, the phrase "paid out" most nearly means:

• dispensed
• ascertained
• suggested
• compensated

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According to the passage, the mountain range in the Atlantic's basin covers nearly the same amount of Earth's surface as does:

• Mount St. Helens
• the Himalayas
• the Pacific Ocean
• the dry land of continents

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According to the passage, the white cover on the peaks of the mountains in the Atlantic's basin is:

• skeletal remains of microscopic animals
• thin layers of sedimentary volcanic ash
• patches of ice
• salt deposits

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