SAT Question 5b8b69a2: Answer & Explanation

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Archaeologist Jon Erlandson and colleagues argue that humans first arrived in the Americas by sea.
• They propose that humans traveled between Pacific Ocean islands and coastlines from northeast Asia to the Americas.
• Many of these islands and coastal zones were later submerged as glaciers melted and sea levels rose.
• The researchers think that “a coastal route, including kelp forests and estuaries, would have provided a rich mix of marine, estuarine, riverine, and terrestrial resources” such as seaweeds, fish, and birds.
• This proposed scenario is known as the kelp highway hypothesis.

Difficulty:Hard

The student wants to summarize the kelp highway hypothesis. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Pacific Ocean islands and coastlines likely contained “a rich mix of marine, estuarine, riverine, and terrestrial resources” such as seaweeds, fish, and birds, according to researchers.

One argument about how humans first arrived in the Americas is the kelp highway hypothesis proposed by Jon Erlandson and colleagues.

Humans may have first arrived in the Americas by sea, traveling between Pacific Ocean islands and coastlines and subsisting on a variety of resources.

As glaciers melted and sea levels rose, many Pacific Ocean islands and coastal zones were submerged.

SAT Question 5b8b69a2: Rhetorical Synthesis answer and explanation

Explanation

Why the other choices are wrong