Charles Lyell: Father of Modern Geology

1. Charles Lyell 1979-1875 E. Shvets 9/11/2006 HONR289C Updated Fall 08 by MRD

2. Background Information • Born in Scotland on November 14, 1797 • Died in London on February 22, 1875 • Buried in Westminster Abbey • Attended Exeter College of Oxford • Member of Geological Society • Father was active naturalist • Oldest of ten children

3. Breakthrough into Geology • 1820’s debates regarding the biblical account of the Flood with geological findings • Strong opposition to theories regarding geology at the time, based on interpretation of the Genesis • The Principles of Geology (12 editions) • The Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth’s Surface, by Reference to Causes now in Operation (volume 3, 1830-1833) • The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man (1863) • Knighted for scientific accomplishment in 1848 • Became a baron in 1864

4. Major Views • Constancy of Nature Laws • Causes which affected the earth in the past must be assumed to have been the same as those in operation today • Action of rain, sea, volcanoes, and earthquakes is responsible for the geological history of more ancient times • Lyell used an engraving of the temple at Serapis to demonstrate the gradual process

5. Uniformitarianism • Along with John Playfair, was major advocate of uniformitarianism • Earth was shaped entirely by slow-moving forces acting over long period of time • Idea of excluding sudden geological catastrophes to vouch for fossil remains of extinct species • Creation of a vast time scale for Earth’s history • Ex. Lyell believed that ordinary geological processes would cause Niagara Falls to move upstream to Lake Erie within 10000 years, leading to catastrophic flooding of a large part of North America.

6. Uniformitarianism Transportation Weathering processes cycling http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/_0/history_12

7. Stratigraphy • Stratigraphy is the study of rock layers and sedimentation. It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. • In 1828, traveled to France and Italy , where he realized that recent strata could be categorized according to the number and proportion of marine shells based within. • Proposed dividing the Tertiary period into the Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene.

8. Misunderstandings • Uniformitarianism contrasted strongly with catastrophism, which states that Earth surface features originated suddenly in the past, by geological processes radically different to those occurring. • Lyell went against the views of the time, many of which were centered around religious views. The strong connection between science and religion during the eighteenth century was something that he attempted to separate.

9. Contributions to Evolution • Lyell was a close and personal friend of Charles Darwin, and one of the first prominent scientists to support The Origin of the Species • The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man (1863) focused on ideas that were based off of the findings of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace • Lyell crater on the moon and a crater on Mars were named in his honour

10. "The greatest merit of the Principles was that it altered the whole tone of one's mind, and therefore that, when seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it through his eyes." -Charles Darwin

11. Summary Principles of Geology Uniformitarianism Stratigraphy The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man (1863) Temple at Serapis

12. References Sept 2008 (M. Dudash) • http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/klmno/lyell_charles.html • ***http://www.victorianweb.org/science/lyell.html • http://www.answers.com/topic/charles-lyell • ***http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/_0/history_12