Editing Timeline of geology (section)

==18th century==
* 1701 – [[Edmond Halley]] suggests using the salinity and evaporation of the Mediterranean to determine the age of the Earth
* 1743 – Dr [[Christopher Packe (physician and cartographer)|Christopher Packe]] produces a geological map of south-east England
* 1746 – [[Jean-Étienne Guettard]] presents the first mineralogical map of France to the [[French Academy of Sciences]].
* 1760 – [[John Michell]] suggests earthquakes are caused by one layer of rocks rubbing against another
* 1776 – [[James Keir]] suggests that some rocks, such as those at the [[Giant's Causeway]], might have been formed by the crystallisation of molten lava
* 1779 – [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Comte de Buffon]] speculates that the Earth is older than the 6,000 years suggested by the Bible
* 1785 – [[James Hutton]] presents paper entitled Theory of the Earth – Earth must be old
* 1799 – [[William Smith (geologist)|William Smith]] produces the first large scale geological map, of the area around [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]