Farmlands, wetlands, forests, and deserts that composed the American landscape in the early twentieth century have frequently been transformed during the past thirty years into mushrooming metropolitan areas as urbanization spreads across the country. Many metropolitan areas in the United States are growing at extraordinary rates. `Urban growth is a vital issue that requires our careful attention from local to global scales,` said Barbara Ryan, USGS Associate Director of Geography. `It is not until we begin to take a broad census of the land itself `" tracking landscapes from a spatial perspective in a time scale of decades `" that we can grasp the scale of the changes that have already occurred and predict the impact of changes to come.` On average, between 1984 and 2004, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Memphis, Minneapolis- St. Paul, Orlando, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh-Durham, Reno-Sparks, Sacramento, Seattle-Tacoma, and Tampa-St. Petersburg averaged 173 square miles of additional urban land over the two decades, with Houston, Orlando, and Atlanta as the top three regions by area. The growth leaders by percentage change were Las Vegas (193 percent), Orlando (157 percent), and Phoenix (103 percent). You can infer from this article that:
- the author believes that further study on the issue of urban growth is needed
- the author heartily endorses urban growth
- the author is very much against urban sprawl and is actively working to limit it
- Seattle-Tacoma is getting overcrowded
- the author is inflating the change in land use to further his or her own agenda
Answer(s): A
Explanation:
Justification
The passage explicitly states that “urban growth is a vital issue that requires our careful attention from local to global scales” and that a “broad census of the land itself … in a time scale of decades” is needed to understand the changes. This language reflects a call for additional systematic study and monitoring of urban expansion, which directly supports Option A: “the author believes that further study on the issue of urban growth is needed.” Option B is inaccurate because the author never expresses enthusiasm for urban growth; the tone is observational and cautionary, not supportive. Option C is unsupported; while the author notes the scale of change, there is no indication of personal opposition or active policy advocacy to limit sprawl. Option D misinterprets the data; the text does not discuss overcrowding in Seattle-Tacoma, only that it experienced a certain amount of land-area increase. Option E is incorrect; the author presents quantitative figures without sensationalism or evident agenda-driven exaggeration, maintaining a neutral, data-driven stance.
Reference:
U.S. Geological Survey. Urban Growth in America: 1984-2004. https://www.usgs.gov/centers/earth-resources-observatory/science/urban-growth-america-1984-2004 U.S. Geological Survey. National Land Cover Database (NLCD) – Urban Area Change. https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/land-use/nlcd
End of response.
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