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BEST IELTS General Reading Test 479
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 479 – PASSAGE – 1
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 479
READING PASSAGE – 1
The Volcanoes
A. A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes most often found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging, and most are found underwater. For example, a mid- oceanic ridge, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, has volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates whereas the Pacific Ring of Fire has volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates.
Volcanoes can also form where there is stretching and thinning of the crust’s plates, such as in the East African Rift and the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field and Rio Grande Rift in North America. Volcanism away from plate boundaries has been postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs from the core mantle boundary, 3,000 kilometres deep in the Earth. This results in hotspot volcanism, of which the Hawaiian hotspot is an example. Volcanoes are usually not created where two tectonic plates slide past one another.
IELTS General Reading Test
B. Large eruptions can affect atmospheric temperature as ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obscure the Sun and cool the Earth’s troposphere. Historically, large volcanic eruptions have been followed by volcanic winters which have caused catastrophic famines. According to the theory of plate tectonics, the Earth’s lithosphere, its rigid outer shell, is broken into sixteen larger plates and several smaller plates. These are in slow motion, due to convection in the underlying ductile mantle, and most volcanic activity on Earth takes place along plate boundaries, where plates are converging, and lithosphere is being destroyed) or are diverging and new lithosphere is being created.
C. At the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another as hot mantle rock creeps upwards beneath the thinned oceanic crust. The decrease of pressure in the rising mantle rock leads to adiabatic expansion and the partial melting of the rock, causing volcanism and creating new oceanic crust. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans. Black smokers also known as deep sea vents are evidence of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea level, volcanic islands are formed, such as Iceland.
IELTS General Reading Test
D. Subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. The oceanic plate subducts, forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. In a process called flux melting, water released from the subducting plate lowers the melting temperature of the overlying mantle wedge, thus creating magma. This magma tends to be extremely viscous because of its high silica content, so it often does not reach the surface but cools and solidifies at depth. When it does reach the surface, however, a volcano is formed. Thus, subduction zones are bordered by chains of volcanoes called volcanic arcs.
E. Typical examples are the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire, such as the Cascade Volcanoes or the Japanese Archipelago, or the Sunda Arc of Indonesia. Hotspots are volcanic areas thought to be formed by mantle plumes, which are hypothesized to be columns of hot material rising from the core-mantle boundary. As with mid-ocean ridges, the rising mantle rock experiences decompression melting which generates large volumes of magma.
Because tectonic plates move across mantle plumes, each volcano becomes inactive as it drifts off the plume, and new volcanoes are created where the plate advances over the plume. The Hawaiian Islands are thought to have been formed in such a manner, as has the Snake River Plain, with the Yellowstone Caldera being the part of the North American plate currently above the Yellowstone hotspot. However, the mantle plume hypothesis has been questioned.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 1-7
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write correct letter A-E in your answer sheet.
NB you may use any letter more than once.
1. Sizeable volcanic outbursts have subsequently triggered calamitous food crisis.
2. Formation of magma as a result of the pileup of two plates.
3. Creation of an island due to the movement of tectonic plates over the mantle plume.
4. The development of ocean layer and formation of volcanic zones.
5. Description and different conditions for volcanoes to create.
6. Subduction regions expounded.
7. The site of the majority of volcanic activity taking place within Earth.
IELTS General Reading Test
Read the text below and answer questions 8-14.
The history of Brick
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements, and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term brick denotes a block composed of dried clay but is now also used informally to signify other chemically cured construction blocks. Bricks can be joined together using mortar, adhesives or by interlocking them. Bricks are produced in numerous styles, categories, materials, and sizes which diverge with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities.
Block is a similar term suggesting to a rectangular building unit composed of similar materials but is usually larger than a brick. Lightweight bricks are made from expanded clay aggregate. Fired bricks are one of the longest-lasting and strongest building materials, sometimes referred to as artificial stone, and have been used since 4000 BC.
IELTS General Reading Test
Air-dried bricks, also known as mudbricks, have a history older than fired bricks, and have an additional ingredient of a mechanical binder such as straw. Bricks are laid in courses and numerous patterns known as bonds, collectively known as brickwork, and may be laid with several classes of mortar to hold the bricks together to make a durable structure. The earliest bricks were dried brick, meaning that they were formed from clay-bearing Earth or mud and dried (usually in the sun) until they were strong enough for use.
The oldest discovered bricks, originally made from shaped mud and dating before 7500 BC, were found at Tell in the upper Tigris region and in southeast Anatolia close to Diyarbakir. The South Asian inhabitants of Mehrgarh also constructed, and lived in, air- dried mudbrick houses between 7000-3300 BC. Other more recent findings, dated between 7,000 and 6,395 BC, come from Jericho, Catal Hüyük, the ancient Egyptian fortress of Buhen, and the ancient Indus Valley cities of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Mehrgarh. Ceramic, or fired brick was used as early as 3000 BC in early Indus Valley cities like Kalibangan.
IELTS General Reading Test
The earliest fired bricks appeared in Neolithic China around 4400 BC at Chengtoushan, a walled settlement of the Daxi culture. These bricks were made of red clay, fired on all sides to above 600 °C, and used as flooring for houses. By the Qujialing period (3300 BC), fired bricks were being used to pave lanes and as building foundations at Chengtoushan. Bricks continued to be used during 2nd millennium BC at a site near Xi’an. Fired bricks were found in Western Zhou (1046-771 BC) ruins, where they were produced on a large scale.
The carpenter’s manual Yingzao Fashi, published in 1103 at the time of the Song dynasty described the brick making process and glazing techniques then in use. Using the 17th-century encyclopaedic text Tiangong Kaiwu, historian Timothy Brook outlined the brick production process of Ming Dynasty China. Early civilisations around the Mediterranean adopted the use of fired bricks, including the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The Roman legions operated mobile kilns, and built large brick structures during the Roman Empire, stamping the bricks with the seal of the legion.
IELTS General Reading Test
During the Early Middle Ages, the use of bricks in construction became popular in Northern Europe, after being introduced there from Northern-Western Italy. An independent style of brick architecture, known as brick Gothic similar to Gothic architecture flourished in places that lacked indigenous sources of rocks. Examples of this architectural style can be found in modern- day Denmark, Germany, Poland, and Kaliningrad (former East Prussia).
Long-distance bulk transport of bricks and other construction equipment remained prohibitively expensive until the development of modern transportation infrastructure, with the construction of canal, roads, and railways.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 8-14
Write no more than TWO WORDS and/or numbers for each answer.
8. Bricks are fabricated in myriad ingredients and proportions which differ in territory and ……………….
9. Artificial stone is another name for ……………….
10. To make a robust edifice, bricks are set with a variety of ……………….
11. The most primitive fired bricks were utilized for ………………. in dwellings.
12. The carpenter’s handbook portrayed the brick crafting and ……………….
13. Brick Gothic thrived in locations that were deficient in aboriginal supplies of ……………….
14. Long-distance mass shipping of bricks stayed absurdly ………………. before the advancement of transportation.
IELTS General Reading Test
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
1. B
2. D
3. E
4. C
5. A
6. D
7. B
8. TIME PERIOD
9. FIRED BRICKS
10. MORTAR
11. FLOORING
12. GLAZING TECHNIQUES
13. ROCKS
14. EXPENSIVE
IELTS General Reading Test