Catastrophism: Asteroids, Comets and Other Dynamic Events in Earth HistoryVerso, 1997 - 262 páginas One of the most dramatic intellectual events of the last decade has been the stunning re-emergence of the catastrophist paradigm in the biological and earth sciences From killer asteroids to emergent viruses, it has become evident that the history of life on earth has been shaped—far more than previous orthodoxies would allow ... by extreme events and non-linear processes. The old "uniformitarian" dogma of steady-rate evolution has been decisively challenged by the research of contemporary neo-catastrophists like Stephen Jay Gould, David Raup, Stuart Ross Taylor, Ursula Marvin and Kenneth Hsu. Whether debating the origin of the moon or the current human impact on the biosphere, they urge us to recognize the radically event- or chance-driven structure of natural history. Surveying these various theories of uniformitarian and neo-catastrophist thought in a clear and accessible fashion, and seeking a path towards a new and workable synthesis, Richard Hugget provides a superb introduction to the ideas which have defined the way we look at the world. |
Contenido
What is a catastrophe? | 6 |
What is catastrophism? | 36 |
Actualistic catastrophism and the inorganic world | 58 |
| 243 | |
| 249 | |
Términos y frases comunes
actualistic animals argued believed biological biosphere biotic bombardment Buckland catas catastrophists causes climate Clube comets continents cosmic cosmogony Creation Cretaceous crust Cuvier cycle Darwin debate directional changes directionalism diversity dynamics Earth history Earth's surface ecological Eldredge environment environmental episodes evidence evolution evolutionary change explain external extinction rate Flood forces fossil record genetic geologists geomorphological geoscientists global globe Gould gradual gradualistic hierarchy Hoffman Hooykaas Huggett Hutton hypothesis idea impact impact events inorganic world James Hutton Lamarck land landscape laws layer Lyell macroevolution macromutations mantle marine mass extinctions million modern mountains Napier natural selection neo-Darwinian Noachian Flood non-actualistic non-linear notion occur oceans organic and inorganic origin orthogenesis pattern period Permian Phanerozoic plants plate tectonics present processes produce progress punctuated rocks sediments Self-organized criticality Sepkoski Solar System speciation species strata sudden and violent suggested system of Earth tectonics terrestrial theory tion uniformitarianism uniformity volcanism
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