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Hutton

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Hutton s Solution and Deep Time No vestige of a beginning No prospect of an end. – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Hutton


1
Huttons Solution and Deep Time
  • No vestige of a beginning
  • No prospect of an end.

2
The Age of Enlightenment
  • Late 18th century
  • Tremendous advances in science, politics,
    philosophy, economics, etc.
  • Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin
  • American figures in the Enlightenment

3
James Hutton
  • A gentleman farmer
  • Associate of James Watt and other members of the
    Oyster Club
  • The Scottish Enlightenment centered in
    Edinburgh (Edinboro)

4
Hutton and Deism
  • Hutton was a Deist
  • Deism held that one could gain greater
    understanding of God by understanding nature
    his creation
  • The Denudation Dilemma - a theological conundrum

5
Denudation Dilemma
  • Rock and soil are essential to life
  • Rock is the foundation for where we live
  • Soil is the foundation of agriculture sustains
    life
  • To the Deists, this was evidence of Gods
    beneficence

6
Denudation Dilemma
  • Rocks decay at Earths surface weathering
  • Soil is washed away from farmlands erosion
  • Weathering and erosion indicate destruction of
    the land
  • Martin Luther predicted that the world would end
    as a result of erosion

7
The Dilemma
  • How can one reconcile Gods beneficence with the
    destruction of the land, which is essential for
    life?

8
Huttons Observations
  • Processes of weathering and erosion are slow
  • Many rocks visible on the land are made up of the
    products of weathering and erosion
  • These rocks are Sedimentary Rocks
  • Sediments accumulate in the ocean, so these rocks
    originally formed in the ocean

9
The Riddle
  • How can rocks that formed below sea level be
    found on land?

10
More of Huttons Observations
  • Not all rocks form by accumulation of sediment
  • Some rocks are made of crystals
  • These rocks show signs of having formed at very
    high temperatures from molten material
  • These are Igneous Rocks

11
Arthurs Seat and Salisbury Crags
12
Huttons Solution
  • Igneous rocks provide evidence for heat within
    the Earth
  • Heat is capable of work (Watts influence)
  • Heat within the Earth lifts rocks from the sea
    and creates new land
  • The dilemma is solved because as erosion destroys
    land, heat uplifts new land
  • Concept of the Rock Cycle

13
Implications of Huttons Solution
  • Earth processes are slow
  • Great changes can be accomplished with great
    amounts of time
  • Evidence of great expanses of time recorded by
    the rocks
  • Conclusion the Earth must be extremely old

14
Evidence for Deep Time Huttons Unconformity
15
An old Earth
  • Recycling of Earth materials
  • Evidence for earlier episodes of recycling
  • No vestige of a beginning no prospect of an
    end.
  • Huttons Theory of the Earth - 1785

16
Playfairs Commentary
  • The mind seemed to grow giddy looking so far
    into the abyss of time

17
Whats so remarkable about Huttons Ideas?
  • Contrary to prevailing views of the time
  • Based on observation what he saw
  • Hutton drew inferences from his observations
  • Inferences are hypotheses
  • Hypotheses are testable
  • This is an application of the scientific method
    to study of the Earth

18
Science and the Scientific Method
  • Science a way of knowing
  • Objective
  • Based on observation
  • Scientific Method a rational way of verifying
    what is known
  • Nothing is absolutely true in science. All
    ideas are subject to rejection as they are tested

19
Science and the Scientific Method
  • Proposed explanations are hypotheses
  • Hypotheses are tested by
  • Experimentation
  • Prediction and verification
  • Further observation
  • Well-tested hypotheses may be elevated to the
    status of theory
  • Well-tested theories may eventually become
    natural laws or simply laws
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