Brian Palmer wrote an article, posted on October 3rd, concerning a project
to drill into Earth’s mantle and the danger of provoking a volcanic eruption.
He affirms that a volcanic eruption would be extremely unlikely if “engineers were to drill directly
into a reservoir of molten magma.” Palmer gives reasons why such a thing is
unlikely to occur and says that humans have already drilled into magma
reservoirs before and nothing catastrophic happened. He states the conditions
which are necessary for an eruption to be provoked by humans and how difficult
it is to acquire these conditions. However, he says that mud volcanoes are a
different story and that these can and have been caused by humans before.
Palmer’s purpose in this essay was to assure readers that it is nearly
impossible to cause a volcanic eruption by only drilling into Earth’s mantle.
He uses a hypophora by asking a question in the beginning and then answering
himself with supporting evidence. The usage of statistics and measurements as
well as analogies make it easier to visualize what he is describing, however he
doesn’t use any quotes from respected people which decreases the credibility of
his information. He does give reference to some events that have and are
occurring and provides links to other articles. Palmer’s tone is informal
(contractions, certain words...) but his vocabulary is appropriate to his
topic. At some points he seems to be out of topic, but he is successful in
conveying his message.
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