The eruption of Rusty Geyser in Yellowstone National Park is caused by a sequence of events. First, water seeps down through narrow channels in the bedrock. _____, magma heats the water and turns it into steam. Finally, that steam builds up enough pressure in the narrow channels to force the water above it to burst out of the ground.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Explanation
Context: The text lays out the steps behind Rusty Geyser's eruption: first water seeps down through narrow bedrock channels, and finally steam pressure forces the water above it out of the ground. The blank introduces the middle step, magma heating that water into steam.
Answer: D) Next,
Why? "First" opens the sequence and "Finally" closes it, so the blank must mark the stage in between. It signals the second step in a chain of events.
Traps:
- A) "Similarly," would make the heating a parallel to the seeping, but these are consecutive stages of one process, not comparable events.
- B) "On the contrary," contradicts the previous statement, and magma heating the water does not deny that water seeps down through the bedrock.
- C) "First of all," restarts the sequence at step one, a slot the previous sentence already fills with "First."