History of Earth science

study of organisms including plants or animals in their environment

scientific dating of the age of the Earth

thumb|Hutton's Unconformity at [[Jedburgh.Above: John Clerk of Eldin's 1787 illustration.Below: 2003 photograph.]] Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe. It refers to invariance in the metaphysical principles underpinning science, such as the constancy of cause and effect throughout space-time, but has also been used to describe spatiotempora

period of international collaboration in the Earth sciences (1957-58)

thumb|The discoveries of different layers of fossils, such as those containing Palaeotherium and [[Anoplotherium (pictured), by Georges Cuvier led him to believe that series of catastrophic events wiped out worlds before the modern one.]] In geology, catastrophism is the theory that the Earth has largely been shaped by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. This contrasts with uniformitarianism (sometimes called gradualism), according to which slow incremental changes, such as erosion, brought about all the Earth's geological features. The proponents of uniformitari

collection of notable objects

right|200px|thumb|Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817), the founder of neptunism Neptunism is a superseded scientific theory of geology proposed by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) in the late 18th century, who proposed that rocks formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans.

Plutonism is the geologic theory that the igneous rocks forming the Earth originated from intrusive magmatic activity, with a continuing gradual process of weathering and erosion wearing away rocks, which were then deposited on the sea bed, re-formed into layers of sedimentary rock by heat and pressure, and raised again. It proposes that basalt is solidified molten magma. The theory lead to plutonic (intrinsic) rock classification, which includes intrinsic igneous rocks such as gabbro, diorite, granite and pegmatite. The name plutonism references Pluto, the classical ruler of the underworld an

aspect of the history of science

experiment to determine the mean density of the Earth

marine research program in 1961

geologic time

series of scientific expeditions, cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean

market building of the Roman colony of Puteoli, now the city of Pozzuoli in southern Italy

18th-century expedition to present-day Ecuador

research program

international year designated by the United Nations

series of observations carried out along a six-mile length of the Old Bedford River in an attempt to determine the shape of the Earth

Geomythology (also called “legends of the earth," "landscape mythology," “myths of observation,” “natural knowledge") is the study of oral and written traditions created by pre-scientific cultures to account for, often in poetic or mythological imagery, geological events and phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tsunamis, land formation, fossils, and natural features of the landscape. Dorothy Vitaliano, a geologist at Indiana University, coined the term in 1968.

first key scientific test of the seafloor spreading theory of continental drift and plate tectonics.

geologic distinction in the Pacific Ocean

hypothesis

aspect of history

1988 world climate change conference held in Toronto, Canada