The catastrophism theory It establishes that the Earth and a large part of its components have been formed through the succession of catastrophic events that have caused the disappearance of certain species, animals and plants, and have allowed the appearance of others. It had its peak during the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Catastrophism proposes the hypothesis that the origin of the Earth through a sudden event of great magnitude. The manifestation of natural events of great destructive capacity such as earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis , among others, are the elements that it uses.
Catastrophism has been questioned, since it establishes that only large catastrophic changes occur from catastrophic events. However, it must be taken into account that in prehistoric times the climatic and natural conditions of the Earth were not the same as today, and that over time, great natural changes have occurred without the need for destructive natural phenomena.
There are those who, even today, continue to defend some postulates of catastrophism, developing currents and derived thoughts that are scientifically accepted.
History of the theory of catastrophism
The beginnings of the catastrophism have their origin with the works of the Irish James Ussher and his chronology on the Earth, that tried to attribute an age to him in the Universe and causes to its formation.
In 1650 Ussher wrote the book The annals of the world , and based on the Bible, proposed:
- That the creation of the Earth took place on Sunday, October 23, 4004 a.C.
- The expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise took place on Monday November 10, 4004 a. C.
- The end of the Universal Flood took place on Wednesday, May 5, 2348 a. C.
Obviously, these data were wrong, since it is currently estimated that the age of the Earth is about 4470 million years and the same for the Solar System.
Later, one of the main promoters and defenders of the theory of catastrophism was the French paleontologist Georges Cuvier (1769-1832).
Cuvier affirmed that the most significant geological and biological changes on Earth were not due to slow and gradual processes (like many other natural phenomena), but to sudden, sudden and violent processes; catastrophic, in short.
Cuvier influenced many of his positions with creationist and even biblical theories, which gives the theory of catastrophism a great religious imprint, since it takes as reference biblical events such as the Great Flood and Noah's Ark as a justification for the presence of certain fossils discovered, for example.
The Church, eventually, would take advantage of this unification between the scientific and religious character that the theories of catastrophism would adopt for their own benefit and use it as sustenance to provide greater truthfulness to their own biblical affirmations.
The bases that Cuvier set with the theory of catastrophism allowed to advance, giving rise to uniformitarianism, a paradigm that would give rise to modern geology as a professional science.
From this new theory it was possible to verify that the conditions of the Earth have been evolving over time, and the changes have not been due only to violent and catastrophic phenomena.
Characteristics of catastrophism theory
Cuvier affirmed that natural events of greater magnitude and destructive capacity were those responsible for generating the most remarkable physical changes on Earth, as well as having a great influence on the presence of animal and plant species throughout the Earth. Prehistory and History
In this way, it would be earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions and other catastrophic geological and meteorological phenomena that are mainly responsible for these changes.
At present, it has been possible to determine the influence of, for example, volcanic eruptions in adjacent ecosystems, and their ability to"restart"in soils and vegetation.
However, other phenomena such as tornadoes and even earthquakes (depending on their magnitude) may not be strong enough to cause really considerable changes.
Perhaps one of the few phenomena resolved through catastrophism was the extinction of dinosaurs due to a sudden and highly violent event, as was a meteorite.
Religious implications
The theory of catastrophism is a paradigm highly permeated by ecclesiastical and biblical influence. By the time of its public manifestation, the Church had great power over academic research.
Cuvier perceived a certain relationship between some phenomena of the creationist theory and its catastrophic postulates, which he commissioned to collate, allowing one to provide the other's answers.
Because of this, stories such as Noah's Ark take place in the theory of catastrophism as a justification for the presence of certain species and the extinction and fossilization of others. The Church took advantage of this to shield with a scientific sustenance some of its most incredible stories.
New notions about terrestrial antiquity
Catastrophism was one of many attempts to determine the age of the Earth and, perhaps, the reason for its location in the galaxy and the universe, as well as its unique conditions for housing life.
Like any good paradigm, although it could not be maintained over time, catastrophism served to give way to new perspectives on geological knowledge and modernize the processes of study and terrestrial reflection.
This would occur with the emergence of uniformitarianism or actualism, promoted by Hutton in 1788 in his"Theory on Earth,"which would establish that the major land changes have been gradual over time and not subject to a few severe events.
New implications
Over time, the catastrophist approaches have been renewed, giving rise to a paradigm known as neocatastrofism, which seeks to establish the relationship that catastrophic events have (previously seen as the main cause of changes) in the gradual changing process from the earth.
This new perception is worked professionally and adds to the modern geological efforts to continue deciphering the unknowns of the Earth.
References
- Brown, H. E., Monnett, V. E., & Stovall, J. W. (1958). Introduction to Geology. New York: Blaisdell Editors.
- Bryson, B. (2008). A short history of almost everything. Barcelona: RBA Books.
- Palmer, T. (1994). Catastrophism, Neocatastrophism and Evolution. Society for Interdisciplinary Studies in association with Nottingham Trent University.
- Pedrinaci, E. (1992). Catastrophism versus actualism. Didactic implications Teaching of Sciences , 216-222.
- Rieznik, P. (2007). In defense of catastrophism. V International Colloquium Marx and Engels. Buenos Aires: Center for Marxist Studies.