Editing Geology (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of geology|Timeline of geology }}
[[File:Geological map Britain William Smith 1815.jpg|thumb|[[William Smith (geologist)|William Smith]]'s [[geological map]] of [[England]], [[Wales]], and southern [[Scotland]]. Completed in 1815, it was the second national-scale geologic map, and by far the most accurate of its time.<ref name=map>{{Cite book |isbn=978-0-06-093180-3 |author=Winchester, Simon |year=2002 |publisher=Perennial |location=New York |title=The map that changed the world: William Smith and the birth of modern geology |url=https://archive.org/details/mapthatchanged00winc }}</ref>{{failed verification|reason=failed on 'second map'|date=September 2019}}]]
The study of the physical material of the Earth dates back at least to [[ancient Greece]] when [[Theophrastus]] (372–287 BCE) wrote the work ''[[Peri Lithon]]'' (''On Stones''). During the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] period, [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote in detail of the many minerals and metals, then in practical use – even correctly noting the origin of [[amber]]. Additionally, in the 4th century BCE [[Aristotle]] made critical observations of the slow rate of geological change. He observed the composition of the land and formulated a theory where the Earth changes at a slow rate and that these changes cannot be observed during one person's lifetime. Aristotle developed one of the first evidence-based concepts connected to the geological realm regarding the rate at which the Earth physically changes.<ref>Moore, Ruth. ''The Earth We Live On''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956. p. 13.</ref><ref>Aristotle. ''Meteorology''. Book 1, Part 14.</ref>

[[Abū al-Rayhān al-Bīrūnī|Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni]] (973–1048 CE) was one of the earliest [[Persian people|Persian]] geologists, whose works included the earliest writings on the [[geology of India]], hypothesizing that the [[Indian subcontinent]] was once a sea.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Age of Achievement: A.D. 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century : The Achievements |year=1992 |isbn=978-92-3-102719-2 |editor1-last=Asimov |editor1-first=M. S. |series=History of civilizations of Central Asia |pages=211–214 |editor2-last=Bosworth |editor2-first=Clifford Edmund}}</ref> Drawing from Greek and Indian scientific literature that were not destroyed by the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]], the Persian scholar [[Ibn Sina]] (Avicenna, 981–1037) proposed detailed explanations for the formation of mountains, the origin of earthquakes, and other topics central to modern geology, which provided an essential foundation for the later development of the science.<ref>Toulmin, S., and Goodfield, J. (1965) ''The Ancestry of science: The Discovery of Time'', Hutchinson & Company, London, England, p. 64.</ref><ref>{{cite report |title=The Contribution of Ibn Sina (Avicenna) to the development of Earth Sciences |author=Al-Rawi, Munin M. |publisher=Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation |location=Manchester, UK |date=November 2002 |id=Publication 4039 |url=http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/ibnsina.pdf |access-date=2008-07-22 |archive-date=2012-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003004835/http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/ibnsina.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In China, the [[polymath]] [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095) formulated a hypothesis for the process of land formation: based on his observation of fossil animal shells in a geological [[stratum]] in a mountain hundreds of miles from the ocean, he inferred that the land was formed by the erosion of the mountains and by [[Deposition (sediment)|deposition]] of [[silt]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |year=1986 |title=Science and Civilisation in China|volume=3|location=Taipei |publisher=Caves Books, Ltd.|pages=603–604|isbn=978-0-521-31560-9|title-link=Science and Civilisation in China }}</ref>

[[Georgius Agricola]] (1494–1555) published his groundbreaking work ''[[De Natura Fossilium]]'' in 1546 and is seen as the founder of geology as a scientific discipline.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/agricola.html | title=Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) }}</ref>

[[Nicolas Steno]] (1638–1686) is credited with the [[law of superposition]], the [[principle of original horizontality]], and the [[principle of lateral continuity]]: three defining principles of [[stratigraphy]].

The word ''geology'' was first used by [[Ulisse Aldrovandi]] in 1603,<ref>From his will (''Testamento d'Ullisse Aldrovandi'') of 1603, which is reproduced in: Fantuzzi, Giovanni, ''Memorie della vita di Ulisse Aldrovandi, medico e filosofo bolognese'' … (Bologna, Italy:  Lelio dalla Volpe, 1774). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ArggVT7zGk4C&pg=PA81 From p. 81:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216115915/https://books.google.com/books?id=ArggVT7zGk4C&pg=PA81|date=2017-02-16}}  " … ''& anco la Giologia, ovvero de Fossilibus;'' … " ( … and likewise geology, or [the study] of things dug from the earth; … )</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Vai, Gian Battista|author2=Cavazza, William|title=Four centuries of the word geology: Ulisse Aldrovandi 1603 in Bologna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ip-rAAAACAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Minerva|isbn=978-88-7381-056-8|access-date=2015-11-14|archive-date=2016-04-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420110353/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ip-rAAAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> then by [[Jean-André Deluc]] in 1778<ref>Deluc, Jean André de, ''Lettres physiques et morales sur les montagnes et sur l'histoire de la terre et de l'homme. …'' [Physical and moral letters on mountains and on the history of the Earth and man. … ], vol. 1 (Paris, France:  V. Duchesne, 1779), pp. 4, 5, and 7.  [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067148760;view=1up;seq=20 From p. 4:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122140010/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067148760;view=1up;seq=20 |date=2018-11-22 }}  ''"Entrainé par les liaisons de cet objet avec la Géologie, j'entrepris dans un second voyage de les développer à SA MAJESTÉ; … "'' (Driven by the connections between this subject and geology, I undertook a second voyage to develop them for Her Majesty [viz, [[Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz]], Queen of Great Britain and Ireland]; … )  [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067148760;view=1up;seq=21 From p. 5:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122141605/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067148760;view=1up;seq=21 |date=2018-11-22 }}  ''"Je vis que je faisais un Traité, et non une equisse de ''Géologie''."''  (I see that I wrote a treatise, and not a sketch of geology.)  [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067148760;view=1up;seq=23 From the footnote on p. 7:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122141258/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067148760;view=1up;seq=23 |date=2018-11-22 }}  ''"Je répète ici, ce que j'avois dit dans ma première ''Préface'', sur la substitution de mot ''Cosmologie'' à celui de ''Géologie'', quoiqu'il ne s'agisse pas de l'Univers, mais seulement de la ''Terre'': … "''  (I repeat here what I said in my first preface about the substitution of the word "cosmology" for that of "geology", although it is not a matter of the universe but only of the Earth: … ) [Note:  A pirated edition of this book was published in 1778.]</ref> and introduced as a fixed term by [[Horace-Bénédict de Saussure]] in 1779.<ref>Saussure, Horace-Bénédict de, ''Voyages dans les Alpes'', … (Neuchatel, (Switzerland):  Samuel Fauche, 1779).  [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k102951m/f4 From pp. i–ii:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206185724/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k102951m/f4 |date=2017-02-06 }}  ''"La science qui rassemble les faits, qui seuls peuvent servir de base à la Théorie de la Terre ou à la ''Géologie'', c'est la Géographie physique, ou la description de notre Globe; … "'' (The science that assembles the facts which alone can serve as the basis of the theory of the Earth or of "geology", is physical geography, or the description of our globe; … )</ref><ref>On the controversy regarding whether Deluc or Saussure deserves priority in the use the term "geology":

* Zittel, Karl Alfred von, with Maria M. Ogilvie-Gordon, trans., ''History of Geology and Paleontology to the End of the Nineteenth Century'' (London, England:  Walter Scott, 1901), [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924012130534#page/n95/mode/2up p. 76.]
* Geikie, Archibald, ''The Founders of Geology'', 2nd ed. (London, England:  Macmillan and Company, 1905), [https://books.google.com/books?id=QFMPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA186 p. 186.]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216124226/https://books.google.com/books?id=QFMPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA186|date=2017-02-16}}.
* Eastman, Charles Rochester (12 August 1904). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1629832?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents Letter to the Editor: "Variæ Auctoritatis"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207034250/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1629832?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents|date=2017-02-07}}, ''Science'', 2nd series, '''20''' (502): 215–217 ; see p. 216.
* Emmons, Samuel Franklin (21 October 1904). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1631128?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Letter to the Editor:  "Variæ Auctoritatis"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207034248/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1631128?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents|date=2017-02-07}}, ''Science'', 2nd series, '''20''' (512): 537.
* Eastman, C.R. (25 November 1904). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1630549?seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents Letter to the Editor:  "Notes on the History of Scientific Nomenclature"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207134257/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1630549?seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents|date=2017-02-07}}. ''Science'', 2nd series, '''20''' (517): 727–730; see p. 728.
* Emmons, S. F. (23 December 1904). [https://archive.org/stream/jstor-1631724/1631724#page/n1/mode/2up Letter to the Editor: "The term 'geology' "], ''Science'', 2nd series, '''20''' (521): 886–887.
* Eastman, C. R. (20 January 1905). [https://books.google.com/books?id=7_hDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA111 Letter to the Editor:  "Deluc's 'Geological Letters'"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216123418/https://books.google.com/books?id=7_hDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA111|date=2017-02-16}}, ''Science'', 2nd series, '''21''' (525): 111.
* Emmons, S. F. (17 February 1905). [https://books.google.com/books?id=7_hDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA274 Letter to the Editor:  "Deluc versus de Saussure"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216124011/https://books.google.com/books?id=7_hDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA274|date=2017-02-16}}, ''Science'', 2nd series, '''21''' (529): 274–275.</ref> The word is derived from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] γῆ, ''gê'', meaning "earth" and λόγος, ''[[logos]]'', meaning "speech".<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Winchester | first1 = Simon | author-link = Simon Winchester | title = The Map that Changed the World | publisher = HarperCollins Publishers | year = 2001 | page = [https://archive.org/details/mapthatchanged00winc/page/25 25] | isbn = 978-0-06-093180-3 | title-link = The Map that Changed the World }}</ref> But according to another source, the word "geology" comes from a Norwegian, [[Mikkel Pedersøn Escholt]] (1600–1669), who was a priest and scholar. Escholt first used the definition in his book titled, ''Geologia Norvegica'' (1657).<ref>Escholt, Michel Pedersøn, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FodAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 ''Geologia Norvegica : det er, En kort undervisning om det vitt-begrebne jordskelff som her udi Norge skeedemesten ofuer alt Syndenfields den 24. aprilis udi nærværende aar 1657: sampt physiske, historiske oc theologiske fundament oc grundelige beretning om jordskellfs aarsager oc betydninger''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216123747/https://books.google.com/books?id=FodAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1|date=2017-02-16}} [Norwegian geology:  that is, a brief lesson about the widely-perceived earthquake which happened here in Norway across all southern parts [on] the 24th of April in the present year 1657: together with physical, historical, and theological bases and a basic account of earthquakes' causes and meanings] (Christiania (now:  Oslo), Norway:  Mickel Thomesøn, 1657). (in Danish).

* Reprinted in English as:  Escholt, Michel Pedersøn with Daniel Collins, trans., [https://books.google.com/books?id=UKlkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR4 ''Geologia Norvegica'' … ]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216124138/https://books.google.com/books?id=UKlkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR4|date=2017-02-16}}. (London, England:  S. Thomson, 1663).</ref><ref>Kermit H., (2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=6al2BH438AYC&q=ductus+stenonianus ''Niels Stensen, 1638–1686: the scientist who was beatified'']. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120163806/https://books.google.com/books?id=6al2BH438AYC&dq=ductus+stenonianus&source=gbs_navlinks_s|date=2017-01-20}}. Gracewing Publishing. p. 127.</ref>

[[William Smith (geologist)|William Smith]] (1769–1839) drew some of the first geological maps and began the process of ordering [[rock strata]] (layers) by examining the fossils contained in them.<ref name="map" />

In 1763, [[Mikhail Lomonosov]] published his treatise ''On the Strata of Earth''.<ref>{{cite book |title=On the Strata of the Earth. |others=Translation and commentary by S.M. Rowland and S. Korolev |last=Lomonosov |first=Mikhail |year=2012 |publisher=The Geological Society of America, Special Paper 485 |isbn=978-0-8137-2485-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5x3jgEACAAJ |access-date=2021-06-19 |archive-date=2021-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624205930/https://books.google.com/books?id=o5x3jgEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> His work was the first narrative of modern geology, based on the unity of processes in time and explanation of the Earth's past from the present.<ref>Vernadsky, V. (1911). Pamyati M.V. Lomonosova. Zaprosy zhizni, 5: 257–262 (in Russian) [In memory of M.V. Lomonosov].</ref>

[[James Hutton]] (1726–1797) is often viewed as the first modern geologist.<ref>[http://www.amnh.org/explore/resource-collections/earth-inside-and-out/james-hutton-the-founder-of-modern-geology/ James Hutton: The Founder of Modern Geology]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827192049/http://www.amnh.org/explore/resource-collections/earth-inside-and-out/james-hutton-the-founder-of-modern-geology|date=2016-08-27}}. American Museum of Natural History.</ref> In 1785 he presented a paper entitled ''Theory of the Earth'' to the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]. In his paper, he explained his theory that the Earth must be much older than had previously been supposed to allow enough time for mountains to be eroded and for [[sediment]]s to form new rocks at the bottom of the sea, which in turn were raised up to become dry land. Hutton published a two-volume version of his ideas in 1795.<ref>Gutenberg ebook links: ([[gutenberg:12861|Vol. 1]]. {{Cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12861 |title=Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Illustrations, Volume 1 (Of 4) |access-date=2022-07-30 |archive-date=2020-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914043214/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12861 |url-status=live }}, [[gutenberg:14179|Vol. 2]]. {{Cite book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14179 |title=Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Illustrations, Volume 2 (Of 4) |access-date=2020-08-28 |archive-date=2020-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809183159/https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14179 |url-status=live }}).</ref>

Followers of Hutton were known as ''[[Plutonists]]'' because they believed that some rocks were formed by ''vulcanism'', which is the deposition of lava from volcanoes, as opposed to the ''[[Neptunists]]'', led by [[Abraham Werner]], who believed that all rocks had settled out of a large ocean whose level gradually dropped over time.

The first [[Geologic map of Georgia|geological map of the U.S.]] was produced in 1809 by [[William Maclure]].<ref name="Maclure1817">{{cite book|author=Maclure, William|title=Observations on the Geology of the United States of America: With Some Remarks on the Effect Produced on the Nature and Fertility of Soils, by the Decomposition of the Different Classes of Rocks; and an Application to the Fertility of Every State in the Union, in Reference to the Accompanying Geological Map.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bgQAAAAIAAJ|year=1817|publisher=Abraham Small|location=Philadelphia|access-date=2015-11-14|archive-date=2015-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027152452/https://books.google.com/books?id=_bgQAAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1807, Maclure commenced the self-imposed task of making a geological survey of the United States. Almost every state in the Union was traversed and mapped by him, the [[Allegheny Mountains]] being crossed and recrossed some 50 times.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Greene |first1=J. C. |last2=Burke |first2=J. G. |year=1978 |title=The Science of Minerals in the Age of Jefferson |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |series=New Series |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=1–113 [39] |doi=10.2307/1006294 |jstor=1006294}}</ref> The results of his unaided labours were submitted to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in a memoir entitled ''Observations on the Geology of the United States explanatory of a Geological Map'', and published in the ''Society's Transactions'', together with the nation's first geological map.<ref>[http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~959~60260:A-Map-of-the-United-States-of-Ameri?sort=Pub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:Geology;sort:Pub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=2&trs=1282 Maclure's 1809 Geological Map]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814020815/http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~959~60260:A-Map-of-the-United-States-of-Ameri?sort=Pub_Date,Pub_List_No,Series_No&qvq=q:Geology;sort:Pub_Date,Pub_List_No,Series_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=2&trs=1282|date=2014-08-14}}. davidrumsey.com.</ref> This antedates [[William Smith (geologist)|William Smith]]'s geological map of England by six years, although it was constructed using a different classification of rocks.

[[Sir Charles Lyell]] (1797–1875) first published his famous book, ''[[Principles of Geology]]'',<ref>{{Cite book |isbn=978-0-226-49797-6 |author=Lyell, Charles |year=1991 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |title=Principles of geology}}</ref> in 1830. This book, which influenced the thought of [[Charles Darwin]], successfully promoted the doctrine of [[uniformitarianism]]. This theory states that slow geological processes have occurred throughout the [[Earth's history]] and are still occurring today. In contrast, [[catastrophism]] is the theory that Earth's features formed in single, catastrophic events and remained unchanged thereafter. Though Hutton believed in uniformitarianism, the idea was not widely accepted at the time.

Much of 19th-century geology revolved around the question of the [[Age of the Earth|Earth's exact age]]. Estimates varied from a few hundred thousand to billions of years.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1130/GSAT01701A.1 |title=John Perry's neglected critique of Kelvin's age for the Earth: A missed opportunity in geodynamics |year=2007 |author=England, Philip |journal=GSA Today |volume=17 |page=4 |last2=Molnar |first2=Peter |last3=Richter |first3=Frank|issue=1 |bibcode=2007GSAT...17R...4E |doi-access=free }}</ref> By the early 20th century, [[radiometric dating]] allowed the Earth's age to be estimated at two billion years. The awareness of this vast amount of time opened the door to new theories about the processes that shaped the planet.

Some of the most significant advances in 20th-century geology have been the development of the theory of [[plate tectonics]] in the 1960s and the refinement of estimates of the planet's age. Plate tectonics theory arose from two separate geological observations: [[seafloor spreading]] and [[continental drift]]. The theory revolutionized the [[Earth sciences]]. Today the Earth is known to be approximately 4.5 billion years old.<ref name="4.54 book" />

<gallery>
File:Georgius Agricola.jpg|[[Georgius Agricola]], German [[mineralogist]], founder of geology as a scientific field
File:M.V. Lomonosov by L.Miropolskiy after G.C.Prenner (1787, RAN).jpg|[[Mikhail Lomonosov]], Russian [[polymath]], author of the first systematic treatise in scientific geology ([[1763]])
File:Hutton James portrait Raeburn.jpg|[[James Hutton]], Scottish [[geologist]] and father of [[modern geology]]
File:John Tuzo Wilson in 1992.jpg|[[John Tuzo Wilson]], Canadian [[geophysicist]] and father of [[plate tectonics]]
File:MSH80 david johnston at camp 05-17-80 med (cropped).jpg|The [[volcanologist]] [[David A. Johnston]] 13 hours before his death at the<br>[[1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens]]
</gallery>