[See timeline of the sources and practices of geology]
motivations for new geological investigations
the desire to scientifically organize, classify, find patterns in knowledge
natural theology and the creation of specialized studies
industrialism (development from 1700s to 1800 to 1850) and its needs, e.g. pottery industry
materials: stone, ores, coal
transportation: the siting of roads, canals
entrpreneurs and natural philosophers: the "Lunar Society"
specialization of science into "disciplines" with research programs, societies, roles
geological fieldwork and classification: associative data and regular patterns of stratigraphy
mapping orderly geographical distribution (1740s- )
minerals and crystalline forms (1745- )
stratigraphy (1770s- ): development centered in German mining, with descriptive and mapping work of Lehmann and Füchsel
physical properties and chemical composition (Werner, 1774)
regularity of strata and predictability (Whitehurst, 1778)
fossils and biostratigraphy (Smith, 1815)
dynamic models of the Earth
observations of sediments, earthquakes (1755), volcanism
uniform processes and historical development
Werner's saturated fluid, deposition, precipitation (1774)
Hutton's interior heat, transformation, building of layers (Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Illustrations, 1785)
Buffon's cooling theory (1779)
Newtonian physics and Laplace's nebular hypothesis (1790s)
expanded age of the earth
the standard estimate from Biblical history (Ussher, 1650)
cooling rate estimate (Buffon, 1779)
sedimentation (Werner, 1774)
denudation estimate (Hutton, 1785)
implications of fossils of extinct forms (1780s- )
the theory of special creations and epochs (Cuvier, 1812; Lyell, 1830s)
scientific principles (Lyell's Principles of Geology, 1830-33)
the appeal to naturalism and laws, and the search for causes
the methodological debate over catastrophe and Lyell's principle of uniformity
the central role of uniformitarianism in the science of geology
© 2018 Dr. William Kimler