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Economic Geology , the search for and extraction of energy and raw materials, is heavily dependent on an understanding of the geological history of an area. Environmental Geology , including most importantly the geologic hazards of Earthquake s and Volcanism , must also include detailed knowledge of the geologic history of an area. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT Nicolaus Steno , also known as Niels Stensen, was the first to observe and propose some of the basic concepts of historical geology. One of these concept was that Fossils originally came from living Organisms . The other, more famous, observations are often grouped together to form the laws of Stratigraphy . James Hutton and Charles Lyell also contributed to early understanding of the Earth's History with their observations at Edinburgh in Scotland concerning Angular Unconformity in a rock face and it was in fact Charles Lyell that influenced Charles Darwin greatly in his theory of eveolution by speculating that '' The present is the key to the past''. Hutton first proposed the theory of Uniformitarianism , which is a basic principle in all branches of geology. Hutton also supported the idea that the Earth was very old as opposed to prevailing concept of the time which said the Earth had only been around a few thousand years. Uniformitarianism describes an Earth created by the same forces of nature that are at work today. The prevailing concept of the 18th century was that of a very short Earth history dominated by Catastrophic events. This view was strongly supported by religious thinkers based on a largely literal interpretation of biblical passages. The concept of uniformitarianism met with considerable resistance and the catastrophism vs. gradualism debate of the 19th century resulted. A variety of discoveries in the 20th century provided ample evidence that Earth history is a product of both gradual incremental processes and sudden cataclysmic events. Violent events such as Meteorite Impacts and large Volcanic explosions do shape the Earth's surface along with gradual processes such as Weathering , Erosion and deposition much as they have throughout Earth history. ''The present is the key to the past'' - includes catastrophic as well as gradual processes. |
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