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(A) Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there
"Which" jumps out at me here. It seems to be suggesting that the sediments are consistent with the growth of industrial activity, and that really doesn't make sense. I suppose you could try to argue that this is some sort of violation of the "touch rule", and the phrase "which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity" reaches all the way back to "large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of Baltic Sea sediments"... but holy crap, that's a stretch. I'm not buying it.
Plus, "there" isn't very clear. The nearest location is the "upper twenty centimeters of Baltic Sea sediments", and that's not where the growth of industrial activity happened. Eliminate (A).
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(B) Baltic Sea sediments, where the growth of industrial activity is consistent with these findings
The problem is similar to that of (A): "where" seems to be modifying "sediments", and that makes no sense. Eliminate (B).
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(C) Baltic Sea sediments, findings consistent with its growth of industrial activity
The pronoun "its" jumps out at me here, in keeping with our advice in
this week's long-winded Topic of the Week. The only singular noun it could refer back to is "Baltic Sea" -- so "the Baltic Sea's growth of industrial activity"?? That doesn't make sense, either. Eliminate (C).
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(D) sediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area
OK, this is pretty nice. It's clearer with the repetition of the word "findings", and "in the area" clarifies that the industrial activity is
around the Baltic Sea, not in it. Keep (D).
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(E) sediments from the Baltic Sea, consistent with the growth of industrial activity there
The only real issue for me here is the word "there." The only location that it could plausibly refer back to is the Baltic Sea, and again, that's not where the growth of industrial activity is happening.
So (D) is better than (E).
In option C, can a possessive pronoun "its" refer to Baltic sea as given in the explanaiton?
I think Baltic sea is an adjective here for sediments.
Also in general, like pronouns, does possessive pronounced such as its, his etc, also always need a referent?