In geology there have been great scientists who have performed incredible feats, thus helping to advance and learn more about our planet. Among the most prominent scientists we have Charles lyell. He is a geologist who was in charge of founding modern geology and made great discoveries that helped increase knowledge about how our planet works. He was one of the most prominent representatives of uniformism and geological gradualism.
In this article we are going to talk about the biography of Charles Lyell, recounting all the most important aspects of his life and what feats he did to make geology so advanced in his times.
Beginnings of Charles Lyell
It is about a man who was born in Kinnordy, Scotland on November 14, 1797. He studied law at the University of Oxford, but dedicated his life to geology. As you can see, what really helps you to advance and develop as a person is not what you study, but what you are passionate about. By dedicating himself to geology out of passion, he was able to achieve many things that are unwillingly done. Among them, he was able to publish the Principles of Geology in 1833. It took several volumes to collect all the knowledge that had been captured in it.
Lyell had been trained on the basis of other modern scientists and his thesis was uniformitarian. In it he defended that the Earth had been formed slowly from long periods of time in which geological phenomena such as those we know today as geological agents. It's about earthquakes volcanoes, floods, continuous erosion, etc.
In these years there was another more widespread theory about the formation of the Earth that was catastrophismThis idea argued that the Earth had been built and shaped by a series of major catastrophes that had occurred in a very short time, but which had transformed the entire Earth's dynamics and relief. To better understand these formation theories, it is interesting to explore the age of the earth in the context of geological evolution.
They were two different theories and proposing a theory that breaks with everything established at this time was something even dangerous. If not, tell Giordano Bruno. However, in his publication Principles of Geology, several parts that explained his thesis stand out.
Actualism, uniformity and dynamic balance
Various parts of the thesis were explained in the Principles of Geology. One of these parts was called actualism. This is Lyell's explanation of past phenomena from geological causes that worked today. That is, geological agents such as wind erosion that helps transport sediments and acts continuously, has been able to transform the relief over thousands of years with the passage of time and slow action.
He also defended that all geological phenomena are uniform and are happening little by little continuously, except some that are catastrophic. This is known as uniformism. Catastrophic events referred to earthquakes and volcanoes that occurred in a relatively short period of time and wreaked havoc on the geology of the terrain.
Finally, he defends that the history of the Earth is given by a constant cycle in which material is created and destroyed. This is called dynamic equilibrium. This theory of dynamic equilibrium is basic to be able to apply to the organic world all geological morphogenesis processes such as erosion and sedimentation, all volcanic and seismic phenomena. The statements that it had generated came from some geological observations that it made during the long trips that it undertook in Europe and North America.
Origin of life and inspiration
Charles Lyell also proposed certain theories about the origin of life on our planet. He assumed that there had been long and successive periods of extinction and creation of species. This creation and destruction of species was due to the movement that the continents experienced and which caused drastic changes in the climate that affected the survival of the species. This happened with the fact that species could not compete with other species or migrate to more climatically stable areas. When these species died, they were replaced by others that arose as a result of new adaptations to the environmental conditions present at each moment in history.
Thanks to these postulates, the work of Charles Lyell was very successful throughout the world. It served as an inspiration to many scientists, including Charles Darwin.
Lyell's inspiration in crafting the postulates are due to the scientist James Hutton. He read about the origin of the Earth in the Theory of the Earth in which Hutton developed certain theories about the formation of the planet and the dynamics that it continued to have. At that time, catastrophism was thought to be compatible with the idea of the creation of the Earth and its biblical interpretation.
Lyell was considered one of the founders of stratigraphy, in which they could begin to study the different layers of the Earth's surface. He was one of the first authors to classify the strata through some studies of marine strata carried out in Western Europe. In these strata, he studied mollusks with shells and was able to divide the different types of rocks in three epochs: Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene.
Honors and travels of Charles Lyell
It was in the year 1827 that he was able to abandon his profession in order to fully dedicate himself to geology. He was a member of the Royal Society, in which he could better develop his studies. Although James Hutton had previously published that the Earth had been formed from slow actions and not sudden changes as defended by catastrophism, it was Lyell who gave the most clarifying explanations at that time.
In the last years of his life he published a work that would become a reference in the field of geology and stratigraphy. It's about the Geology elements and in 1863, he published his third work called The antiquity of man. He was named Sir and received numerous honorable mentions throughout his life. He died on February 22, 1875.