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