Faculty: Physical Sciences
Dept: Geological
Sciences
Course title:
Lithostratigraphic Analysis of
Sedimentary Basins
Course Code: GLS 625
The principle of
uniformitarianism is a basic tool in the study of geology. It was first
introduced by James Hutton and later advanced by Charles Lyell (both British Geologists). The principle of
uniformitarianism simply states that the “present is the key to the past” i.e.
all the processes operating to shape the earth surface at present had operated
on the earth in the past at the same rate or nearly at
equal rate. This is the
view of Plutonists.
However, another school of taught
known as Catastrophists or Neputinists argue against this principle,
attributing the origin of the earth to supernatural means, which had been
affected by a series of catastrophic events such as the biblical (Noah’s
flood). William Thomason and Lord Kelvin
criticized the idea of uniformitarianism stating that the earth is loosing heat
by conduction and that the nature of geologic processes may have changed as a
consequence; he also concluded that this cooling placed an upper limit on the
age of the earth. With the discovery of radioactivity and the recognition that
radioactive isotopes within the earth provide a continuing internal source of
heat, it became clear that Thomson’s conclusion that the earth was less than 10 million years old
was incorrect, but his argument that the earth suffers an irreversible loss of
energy remains valid.
Again, Neputinist argue that basalt
is a sedimentary rock with fossil and could not be of volcanic origin as
opposed to the Plutonists. They view that dramatic geological changes have
occurred in sudden, violent or unusual events. They believe the supernatural
origin of the earth, which according to them is 6,000 years old. They posit a major challenge to evolutionary
timetable, eliminating the multiple billion of years demanded to make
evolutionary hypothesis.
Furthermore, the Catastrophists argue
that fossil record is impossible to be explained by any uniformitarian scheme.
For a living creature to become fossilized (rather than to decay and turn to
dust, Job 34:15), it must be buried immediately under a great weight of
sediment. Apart from a catastrophic discharge on a scale unlike any observed
recent history, how can we explain the existence of massive fossil bed (such as
Karoo Formation fossil field in Africa, which hold eight hundred billion
vertebrate fossil)? Neputinists believe that natural sedimentation over several
ages cannot explain large fossil beds where millions of fossilized species are
found together in large concentrations as all these creatures were destroyed
and buried together by massive flooding. Fossils of sea origin are even found
on many of the world’s highest mountaintops according to the Neputisists. They
strongly oppose the Plutonists, that their uniformitariamsm principle could not
explain the aforementioned phenomena, and that the only way they can venture
their explanation is by constantly increasing their estimate of the age of the earth.