Paragraph 5: Ir has not been common at Earth’s since the very beginning of the planet’s history. Because it usually exists in a metallic state, it was preferentially incorporated in Earth’s core as the planet cooled and consolidated. Ir is found in high concentrations in some meteorites, in which the solar system’s original chemical composition is preserved. Even today, microscopic meteorites continually bombard Earth, falling on both land and sea. By measuring how many of these meteorites fall to Earth over a given period of time, scientists can estimate how long it might have taken to deposit the observed amount of Ir in the boundary clay. These calculations suggest that a period of about one million years would have been required. However, other reliable evidence suggests that the deposition of the boundary clay could not have taken one million years. So the unusually high concentration of Ir seems to require a special explanation.
- Paragraph 5 implies that a special explanation of Ir in the boundary clay is needed because
○the Ir in microscopic meteorites reaching Earth during the Cretaceous period would have been incorporated into Earth’s core
○the Ir in the boundary clay was deposited much more than a million years ago
○the concentration of Ir in the boundary clay is higher than in microscopic meteorites
○the amount of Ir in the boundary clay is too great to have come from microscopic meteorites during the time the boundary clay was deposited