geology Flashcards
The science of geology arose from both________?
practical and theoretical questions
What 5 main questions was geology based on?
- where can we find valuable minerals and metals
- how did mountains form?
- where do rivers come from?
- what are fossils?
- how did the earth form in the first place?
sir isaac Newton’s laws of universal gravitation explained what?
the daily tides and inspired the search for theories of the eatch and its origins that were based on physical laws: cosmogony
Archbishop james Ussher published what?
a chronology of human history including events in the bible
When did Archbishop James Usher propose that divine creation began?
it began at 12:00 noon on october 23 4004 BC
how did Archbishop james Ussher arrive at his precise date for the start of divine creation?
by extensive biblical and non biblical research, which resulted in a 2000 page chronology of all human history.
what were the implications of the Genesis view of the origins of the earth?
is that inly one geological event in history significantly shaped the earth: the great flood of Noah
Early scientific theories of the earth tried to incorporate what?
the new knowledge of physics and astronomy into an account of the earths origins and history
New theory of the earth (1696) by William Whiston tried to explain what?
biblical events by means of cometary events
Whiston’s operating principle accepted what?
the bible as literally true, exept if you have reason to believe otherwise
According to Whiston and the six days of creation, the point of view of Genesis is the what?
the surface of the earth, not the cosmos as a whole. Genisis is NOT an account of the origin og everything
According to Whiston and the six days of creation the earth began as what?
was a comet with a highly elliptical orbit. the orbit was made more circular by god, working through Newton’s laws’ physical laws are the tools of god
According to Whiston, what caused the fall of man and expulsion of Adam and Eve?
these things happed due to an impact of a comet hitting the earth
According to Whiston, why did the flood occur?
due to close encounter between the earth and the water in the tail of a passing comet Tidal forces cased by the comet opened cracks in the earth surface, resulting in the upward surge of subterranean water, which contributed to the Flood of Noah
According to Whiston, what is the coming conflagration?
soon another comet will approach the earth strip our atmosphere, raise molten interior material, and make the earth’s orbit more elliptical
What did Whiston mean by “The Consumation”?
Christ will reign for a thousand years, the battle of Armageddon will be fought, the righteous will win and go to heaven. The earth will take a direct hit from yet another comet, and we will be knocked back into a highly elliptical orbit. THE END. LOL.
Who wrote Telliamed?
Benoit de Maillet (1656-1738). in which he describes his conversations with a mysterious philosopher from the east
What did de Maillet do?
he put radical ideas in the mouth of a character in a fictional story, in order to avoid trouble with the authorities
What were some of de Maillet’s radical ideas?
the earth has seen eternal cycles of creation and destruction
oceans once covered the earth
the origin and evolution of life
Who was the LAST person to try and integrate a theory of earth’s origins?
BUFFON
and he did it with a theory of geological changes
Fossils:
what was the one question about fossils that poised a problem?
why do you find fossils of marine organisms on the tops of fricken mountains?
What did fossil skeptics think?
thought that fossils were not remains of organisms and tel us nothing about the life of the past. Extinction seened untenable theologically
Imagine being a fossil skeptic? lol wrong side of history I tell ya
What was the theological “problem” with extinction?
the concept of extinction is at variance with the idea that all species were created by a wise, all-powerful god for a specific purpose
Genesis palaeontologists thought what about fossils?
fossils were remains of organisms, and tried to fit them into a biblical Framework
What did Nicholas steno (1638-1686) do?
wrestled with the “solids within solids problem” in references to tongue stones (how did these fossils get into these rocks)
What was Robert Hooke (1635-1703)
three ideas of his?
he was a Genesis Skeptic
sedimentary rocks are not remains of the flood
earths movements reform the earths surface, exposing marine layers
extinction is real
What was Neptunism (18th century)?
An attempt to understand geological formations (especially mountains) as a consequence of recession of the oceans and the precipitation of minerals from the receding oceans. Most Neptunists though, made no reference to the bible or the great flood
What principle did the Neptunists establish?
The stratigraphical principle of superposition, which had its origins with Nicholas Steno.
What was the Neptunists’ opinion on the principle of original horizontality?
supported it
What is Plutonism (18th century)?
they emphasized internal heat as an agent of geological change
Who was James Hutton (1726-1797)? what did he do?
founded plutonism with Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Illustrations(1795).
what happened to Hutton’s “Proofs and Illustrations” (1795)?
it was condensed and re written for a broader audience by John Playfair in illustrations of the Huttonian thery of the earth 1802
What were the two important principles which governed geological thinking what were they?
Uniformitraianism- the causes of geological changes are slow and constant and the same at all times
geological cycles and a steady state earth- continental mountains erode and deposit sediment in oceans; the sediment pressure forms molten magma; the magma bubbles up to the seafloor; ultimately forming new continents. there is no long term directional changes to the earth in this model
who was Charles Lyell(1797-1875) and what did he do?
defended Hutton and Uniformitarianism in Principles of Geology 3 vols (1830-1833), this was the 19th century’s most important textbook of geology
The stratigraphical column:
when and who assembled the first columns?
1800-1820 by georges Cuvier and William Smith
What was the key idea of The stratigraphical column?
fossils are not just a jumble, they tell a chronological story, and therefore they can be used to determine relative dates of geological strata
What was the biological significance of The stratigraphical column:
life changes over time
different sites can be related in temporal way
debates in the 19th century regarding geology:
what were the 2 opposing points of view regarding the rate of geological change?
- uniformitarianism- slow, uniform geological change
2. Catastrophism- times of rapid large scale changes separated by times of relative changelessness
What were the 2 opposing points of view regarding the direction of geological change?
- directional geology (buffon, neptunists)
2. cyclic, steady state geology (Hutton, Lyell)
