Choice D is the best answer. The previous question asks about which description of the relationship between salt behavior in the nanoworld and in the macroworld can be inferred from the passage. The answer, that salt is flexible or elastic in both worlds, is best supported in the eighth paragraph: "Huge underground deposits of salt can bend like plastic, but water is believed to play a role at these scales." These lines suggest that in the macroworld, as in the nanoworld, salt possesses flexibility.
Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because the cited lines don't support the answer to the previous question. Instead, they highlight the prevalence of nanowires (choice A), identify which forces dominate the nanoworld (choice B), and offer a tentative explanation for an observation discussed in the passage (choice C).