some brief notes on charles lyell to accompany: faunal succession activity by hilary clement olson
TRANSCRIPT
Some brief notes on Charles Lyellto accompany:
Faunal Succession Activityby Hilary Clement Olson
Sir Charles Lyell 1797-1875
•Oxford degreed, law until 1827, geology•1790s-Industrial revolution•late 18th C-Scottish Enlightenment•keen observation skills•much influenced by Hutton’s Theory of the Earth
Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time
Charles Lyell 1797-1875
•traveled widely making observations on the geologic record and modern earth processes•wrote a popular article which defended James Hutton’s views•published Principles of Geology (v.1 in 1830 and v.2 in 1832)
Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time
Charles Lyell 1797-1875
•His Principles of Geology marshaled all the observations he could collect in support of the doctrine that the present is the key to the past, and almost singlehandedly established uniformitarianism as the accepted philosophy for interpretation of Earth history.
•Believed it was necessary to create a vaste time scale to explain Earth’s geologic history.
from Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time
Uniformitarianism:earth’s history can be explained byobserving the geological forces nowat work, because these forces areidentical to the ones that operated inthe past
“the present is the key to the past”
Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time
Charles Lyell 1797-1875
Lyell defined the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene epochs on the basis of the relative proportion of the living and extinct fossils contained in each:•Eocene = 3% living•Miocene = 17% living•Pliocene 50-67% living
Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time
Charles Lyell 1797-1875
• His just published Principles of Geology was one of the books Charles Darwin took with him on his famous voyage on The Beagle (1831-36), and greatly influenced Darwin’s thinking during the development of his theory of evolution.
Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time