EARTH121 Study Guide - Final Guide: Catastrophism, Continental Crust, Mesosaurus

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Earth Sciences
• Course: EARTH121
• Professor: John Johnston

Document Summary

Geo earth logos discourse: derived from greek. Physical geology deals with examining the earth to understand its processes whereas historical geology focuses on studying the earth to determine its origin and development through time. William logan: canadian geologist in the 1800s who mapped most of canada and was responsible for making the government aware of its rich minerals. Catastrophism: anglican archbishop james ussher dated the origin of earth using biblical clues to 4004 bce. Uniformitarianism: james hutton came up with the idea that geological processes took long periods of time to occur and that the earth was in fact very ancient. Radioactive dating is used to date the age of rocks. The age of the earth is estimated to be 4. 6 billion years old. Alfred wegener was the first geologist to propose the concept of continental drift which was in direct conflict with the older view that the ocean basins and the continents were permanently fixed in place.