Catastrophism vs. Uniformitarianism in Geology

Introduction to Early Geological Thought

Today, modern scientists understand that the Earth is billions of years old. They have a basic understanding of how the Earth was formed and how it developed over the eons that it has existed. However, this was not always the case, and until the late 1800s, most scientists had no clear idea of the age of the Earth or how it had changed over time. In the late 1700s, a Scottish scientist named James Hutton carefully observed the world around him and concluded that the sedimentation visible in bedrock must take place at a very slow rate and must be made up of "materials furnished from the ruins of former continents" ("James Hutton," 2000). This idea came to be called Uniformitarianism, and for its development, Hutton was awarded the title "Founder of Modern Geology."

Ussher's Catastrophism and Biblical Geology

Hutton's ideas stood in sharp contrast to the prevailing belief about the age of the Earth. Since the mid-1600s, most people accepted a theory developed by an Anglican Archbishop named James Ussher, which proposed that the Earth was created in 4004 B.C. Catastrophism, as this idea came to be known, proposed that the many geologic features observed in nature were the result of various catastrophes — "sudden and often worldwide disasters of unknowable causes that no longer operate" (Lutgen & Tarbuck, 2011, p. 239). With this theory, Ussher attempted to fit the world he observed into the pages of the Bible, which described exactly how the world was supposed to have been created. Using scripture as his guide, Ussher calculated that the world must have been created in 4004 B.C., and he used this date as the foundation for a theory of nature that would fit within that timeframe.

Hutton's Uniformitarianism and Scientific Observation

Where Ussher relied on biblically derived dates, Hutton grounded his theory in direct observation. Uniformitarianism held that "the physical, chemical, and biological laws that operate today must have also operated in the geologic past" (Lutgen & Tarbuck, 2011, p. 239). Rather than appealing to catastrophes with unknown causes that no longer operated, Hutton argued that there were no sudden disasters shaping the Earth — only a long span of time combined with the natural forces observable in the present day. With Uniformitarianism, there was no longer any need to invoke unknowable periodic disasters. Instead, the world could be carefully observed, data could be collected and extrapolated, and an age for the Earth could be calculated in the millions, or perhaps even billions, of years.

Conclusion: Toward a Scientific Understanding of Earth's Age

Since the initial arguments over the age of the Earth, begun more than three hundred years ago with James Ussher's calculation that the Earth was created in 4004 B.C., scientists have carefully observed nature and developed alternative, more provable theories. Beginning with the Father of Modern Geology, James Hutton, scientific methods have been employed to determine the age of the Earth. Modern scientists now know that Hutton was more accurate in his determination that the Earth was millions, perhaps billions, of years old, and that the geologic features we observe resulted from time, weathering, erosion, and other processes that unfold over immense spans of time. While Hutton may not have been entirely correct in every detail, his theory was far closer to the truth than Ussher's.

References

"James Hutton: The Founder of Modern Geology." Earth: Inside and Out. 2000. American Museum of Natural History / New Press. Retrieved from www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/earth/p_hutton.html

Lutgen, F. K., & Tarbuck, E. J. (2011). Foundations of Earth Science (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.