Geology considers the immutability of fundamental physical processes across geologic time as one of its principles. This is widely referred to as the principle of uniformitarianism. The principle of uniformitarianism states that the present is the key to the past. Although seemingly simple, this principle has fundamentally revolutionized the science of Geology and considerably modified the philosophical fabric of society by particularly redefining the role of Time in geological processes. For example, uniformitarianism was used to challenge the notion that Earth is only 6000 years old. Simply put, its task is to observe, closely and keenly, the present physical processes in order to infer what might have happened in the past (e.g. examine basins in which sediments are depositing, theorize upon their accumulation and rock formation process, and apply the principles to better understand the formation of sedimentary rocks over millions of years). Accordingly, uniformitarianism accumulates knowledge and insights by starting from particulars and establishing their universals as theories and laws.
However, like all things with value, uniformitarianism has its own limitations. Bertrand Russel illustrates this limitation eloquently by using his optimistic chicken as an example, “The man who has fed the chicken every day throughout its life at last wrings its neck instead, showing that more refined views as to the uniformity of nature would have been useful to the chicken.” Of course, geologists are well aware of this limitation. They know that the present physical conditions do not necessarily reflect the past physical conditions. For example, our geological findings show that the paleo-climate conditions of the Earth are not the same as our present climate conditions; in fact, it’s been evolving in deep time. Just like the atmosphere, the mineral world has also been evolving, creating new minerals from its predecessors. In general, a whole array of things was way different in the past and interacted differently. These facts but make us wonder whether the utility of uniformitarianism is diminishing.
At face value, it may look like the utility of uniformitarianism is on its last leg. Especially, with the emergence of numerical modeling, and advanced statistical tools including AI. It seems like simulation of the past conditions with a multiple-hypotheses approach may help us better understand the physio-chemical evolution of the Earth better. This is true and more reliant on deductive reasoning. Still, we need a reference for all kinds of numerical and deterministic computations. Uniformitarianism comes, yet again, as the key and not as the exact copy of the past. Secondly, regardless of the nature of reasoning employed, the concept of uniformitarianism should be honored to investigate Earth’s history. In other words, either the present physical processes or the law that governs the physical processes must be considered as immutable for geological investigations to be possible. Despite its limitations, uniformitarianism will continue to serve as one of the pillars of geology. It shall also remind earth scientists that they should always thrive to disprove their hypotheses and the ones they could not disprove, they should accept with a grain of salt.
– Luel, your friendly geologist
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