CATASTRO PHISM

– Catastrophism is the doctrine that Earth's

history has been dominated by cataclysmic
events rather than gradual processes acting
over long periods of time. For example, a
catastrophist might conclude that the
Rocky Mountains were created in a single
rapid event such as a
great earthquake rather than by
imperceptibly slow uplift and erosion.
– A new concept, uniformitarianism, grew from the
work of the Scottish geologist James Hutton
(1726–1797) and eventually replaced
catastrophism. Uniformitarianism is the doctrine
that geologic processes operate at the same rates
and with the same intensity now as they did in
the past. Hutton suggested that Earth had a very
long history that could be understood in terms of
currently observable processes such as
the weathering of rocks and erosion of sediment.
Sandstone, for example, was formed by the same
–Sandstone, for example, was
formed by the same kinds of
physical processes that form
modern sandy beaches or deserts.
Therefore, catastrophic events were
not needed to explain Earth's
history.