Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Plutonism: James Hutton (1726-1797): The concept of the formation of crystalline rocks by
solidification from a melt or magma.
Catastrophism: James Ussher (1581-1656): The doctrine that sudden violent, short-lived, more or
less worldwide events outside our present experience or knowledge have greatly modified the Earth's
crust accounting for its present configuration as well as for the observed distribution of life forms.
Uniformitarianism: James Hutton (1726-1797): The fundamental principle that geological processes
and natural laws now operating to modify the Earth's crust have acted in much the same manner
(gradual) and with essentially the same intensity throughout geologic time, and that past geologic events
can be explained by forces observable today. "The present is the key to the past"
• Sedimentary rocks are formed in layers (strata) which were originally horizontal.
• Flat strata are probably undisturbed
• Tilted strata have been affected by tectonics.
• Superposition
• Lateral Continuity
• Original Horizontality
• Inclusions
• Cross-cutting Relationships
• Fossil Records:
• Based on evolution
• Also relics of superposition
• When a species becomes extinct, it does not reappear.