Charles Lyell's Theory Of Uniformitarianism Essay

CHARLES LYELL’S THEORY OF UNIFORMITARIANISM

Whilst it may not be thought, findings in geology had a major influence on Darwin’s way of thinking about evolution. For example, the findings of Charles Lyell. Lyell was a Scottish geologist and sought to find evidence which would support his theory of uniformitarianism.
Uniformitarianism is a theory on how Earth has come to look like the way it does now. It states that all natural processes that are happening now such as movements of plates, forming of volcanoes and mountains and the occurrence of earthquakes, have also happened in the past. These past movements of plates have formed the Earth to the way we know it now. By tracing back the movements which occur now, it is possible to know how earth must have looked like thousands of years ago. As these movements do not occur in a steady rate, it must

The theory of catastrophism states that once every ‘n’ amount of years, there is a major catastrophe, initiated by God, that wipes out all life and completely and destroys the surface features of the Earth causing plates to move, mountains to form and volcanoes to erupt. This is the explanation for the fact that the Earth looked different in the past (Cuvier, 1796). As Lyell explains the changing of the surface of the Earth through gradual natural processes, and not through the actions of a God, which Cuvier did, Lyell’s theory was seen as very controversial.
To prove his theory, Lyell needed to find evidence that features in the Earth’s surface such as mountains and volcanoes, can be explained through the natural processes that are acknowledged now. To find this evidence Lyell made several trips through Europe to observe soil and rock formations. His biggest journey started off in Paris from where he moved southwards to the Massif Central, an elevated region in middle of southern France. After that he moved on to the Alps and continued