Many people have attempted to put an age to the Earth. Aristotle believed that Earth has existed eternally. Various others attempted to use the bible to extrapolate back from known history which resulted in a relatively recent beginning. In 1654, Archbishop James Usher of Ireland used this theory and estimated the creation of Earth to be 4,004 B.C. (Ticotsky, 2006).
A couple of decades later, Nicolas Steno formulated the idea that is now known as “original horizontality” in which layers of sediment are originally deposited horizontally and therefore, younger sediment will be deposited atop older sediment. Nicolas Steno inferred that where sediment is not horizontal, a force must have tilted the deposition. Nicolas Steno was an early discoverer …show more content…
Cuvier developed the theory “based on paleontological evidence in the Paris Basin” (Taylor, nd). Instead of a persistent sequence of fossils, there were several gaps where fossil evidence would vanish and reappear after a period of time. Cuvier identified these gaps as a result of mass extinction events which in-turn led to the development of the theory of catastrophism which states that “natural history has been punctuated by catastrophic events that altered the way life developed and rocks were deposited” (Taylor, nd). Cuvier stated that lowland flooding may be the cause of such mass extinction events; however, he never explained how such flooding could occur. Therefore, catastrophism infers that forces acting on the Earth altered cyclical throughout time. As Cuvier never explained the forces that could result in such extinction events, many people believed that such events were caused by “biblical floods or acts of God” (Taylor, nd). Abraham Werner, one of the top of geologists of his time, was a huge supporter of catastrophism as he attempted to use catastrophism to support the theory of neptunism. Neptunism, a contrasting theory to plutonism, states that Earth was once an ocean which contained various minerals that precipitated and formed rocks. Therefore, Werner attempted to prove that Earth experienced massive floods throughout its history. Later in the 19th century both neptunism and catastrophism were debunct (Taylor,
A couple of decades later, Nicolas Steno formulated the idea that is now known as “original horizontality” in which layers of sediment are originally deposited horizontally and therefore, younger sediment will be deposited atop older sediment. Nicolas Steno inferred that where sediment is not horizontal, a force must have tilted the deposition. Nicolas Steno was an early discoverer …show more content…
Cuvier developed the theory “based on paleontological evidence in the Paris Basin” (Taylor, nd). Instead of a persistent sequence of fossils, there were several gaps where fossil evidence would vanish and reappear after a period of time. Cuvier identified these gaps as a result of mass extinction events which in-turn led to the development of the theory of catastrophism which states that “natural history has been punctuated by catastrophic events that altered the way life developed and rocks were deposited” (Taylor, nd). Cuvier stated that lowland flooding may be the cause of such mass extinction events; however, he never explained how such flooding could occur. Therefore, catastrophism infers that forces acting on the Earth altered cyclical throughout time. As Cuvier never explained the forces that could result in such extinction events, many people believed that such events were caused by “biblical floods or acts of God” (Taylor, nd). Abraham Werner, one of the top of geologists of his time, was a huge supporter of catastrophism as he attempted to use catastrophism to support the theory of neptunism. Neptunism, a contrasting theory to plutonism, states that Earth was once an ocean which contained various minerals that precipitated and formed rocks. Therefore, Werner attempted to prove that Earth experienced massive floods throughout its history. Later in the 19th century both neptunism and catastrophism were debunct (Taylor,