Fun Fact #281 Plutonism

Fun Fact #281

Plutonism

Have you ever gotten into an argument in which both sides had a point? Then you may begin to understand the frustration James Hutton experienced when his colleges could not stop arguing how the planet’s surface formed, so he made his own. His theory was simple in that both theories were right as Plate Tectonics raised the landmasses and erosion broke them down, but far, far slower than what either theory believed. After Hutton’s death some of his followers “The Hutts” led by John Playfair, would publish the book ‘Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory” which condensed and clarified Hutton’s theories coming to completely replace Neptunism within the decade. Today James Hutton is considered “The Father of Geology” and his theory would become the backbone of modern Unifomatism used to classify rock today.

James Hutton