Unifomitarianism is a concept about the geologic events that took place in the past history of the earth's surface include mountain building, erosion and sediments . The two scholars challenged the idea of catastrophism on the basis of observation and their own study. The work by James Hutton and ...
CONCEPT OF UNIFORMITARIANISM
Geologic event such as sudden as an earthquake or as slowed as the erosion of
a river valley that happened in past history of earth, this is known as
‘Uniformitarianism’.
In 1830, Uniformitarianism was not a prevailing theory. Then, the scientist gave
an idea of catastrophism, which refers to the surface feature on earth such as
mountain were formed by large, abrupt changes or catastrophes.
The idea of catastrophism was eventually challenged on the basis of
observation and studies of two men – ‘James Hutton’ and ‘Charles Lyell’.
Hutton was a Scottish farmer and naturalist. In his observations, he convinced
that the natural processes such as mountain building and erosion, occurred
slowly over time through geologic forces that have been working since the
earth has been formed. He eventually turned his observation & idea into what
become known as the Principle of “Uniformitarianism”.
Lyell was also a Scottish geologist. In
1830, he published a book “Principle of
geology” that challenged the idea of
catastrophism, which was still
dominant theory despite to Hutton’s
work. Lyell believed Hutton was correct
about the earth’s surface. The
combined efforts of Lyell and Hutton
became the foundation of modern
geology.
Uniformitarianism is a fundamental process or a principle in geology and earth
science that suggest that the same natural processes and laws that are
observable today throughout the history of earth.
The key idea behind Uniformitarianism is that the laws of nature’ such as
gravity’ erosion and deposition. Some geological processes include formation
of Sedimentary rocks, the erosion of mountains or the gradual movement of
tectonic plates that can be used to understand the earth’s history.
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