The catastrophism theory It is an approach that explains the formation of the surface of planet Earth as a consequence of a series of catastrophes. These are sudden, violent and large-scale events, such as planetary floods, massive volcanic eruptions, and meteor strikes..
The main defender of this theory was the Frenchman Georges Cuvier in the early 19th century. The aim was to propose a theory that would fit with the Bible, specifically with Genesis and with events such as the Universal Flood..
The catastrophic theory was opposed to the gradualist theory, which indicated that the Earth was formed through slow processes, generating imperceptible changes that in geological times had great impact. For example, the erosion of a mountain or the formation of a valley due to the progressive action of the waters that run off.
Finally, geologists leaned more towards gradualism, particularly after the approaches of the English naturalist Lyell (1832), who argued that the same processes that we see today had operated in the past, such as erosion and other.
Although the catastrophic theory was abandoned, today geologists admit that some catastrophic processes may have occurred in the formation of the Earth. For example, impacts from large meteorites and massive volcanic eruptions.
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The theory of catastrophism was intended to conform to the biblical account and the interpretations of its chronology, as proposed for that time by the Anglican Archbishop James Ussher (1650). It was proposed that the Earth had been created in the year 4004 BC, therefore it was less than 6,000 years old at that time.
Subsequently, the age of the planet was adjusted to 666 million years, which still left little room to explain all the related phenomena. In that relatively short time, the great mountains, valleys, plains, rivers, and lakes had to have formed..
On the other hand, there was the complicated problem of fossils (petrified remains of ancient animals and plants), since a large number was discovered in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Signs of the existence of various types of extinct animals began to appear.
This raised a problem in light of creationist theory: Why would God create entire faunas and then make them disappear??
How had the valleys, oceans, great mountains been formed in the little age assigned to the Earth? How to explain the fossils that showed the existence of various fauna and flora that changed in that period?
The only way to explain the changes evidenced by the geological and fossil record was that the Earth was subject to periodic catastrophes. Therefore, these phenomena caused drastic changes in a relatively short time, which coincided with the biblical account of the Universal Flood..
As for fossils, the catastrophic theory fitted well with the creationist idea, in which God had created animals and plants, then catastrophes extinguished them and God created new ones to replace them. This was called the theory of successive creations by the American Louis Agassiz.
For example, great planetary floods like the Universal Flood covered the Earth, washed away sediment and destroyed mountains. Thus they gave shape to the planet, while animals and plants had been buried forming fossils.
This theory was initially supported by renowned naturalists, biologists, and geologists, such as Charles Bonnet (1769) and Jean-André de Luc (1779). But its greatest exponent was the French naturalist Georges Cuvier with his work Discourse on the revolutions of the surface of the globe (1812).
The problem was that the theory of catastrophism did not convince many geologists, because they observed that the processes that were acting at this time on Earth were not catastrophes, but gradual processes.
They saw that the slow erosion changed the shape of the land or how the rivers were forming valleys and plains. Given this, Lyell in 1832 proposed a theory called actualism, which ended up being accepted.
This indicates that past geological phenomena were generated by the same processes that operate today. In other words, it is processes such as erosion and the slow movements of the continents that shape the planet and not catastrophes..
In 1980 Luis Álvarez and collaborators proposed the theory of the impact of a large meteorite as the cause of the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. On the other hand, other major catastrophes have been identified as the cause of mass extinctions of species.
For example, massive volcanic eruptions as the cause of the Permian extinction 250 million years ago. Given this, today paleontologists and geologists take catastrophes into account to explain the geological record and mass extinctions..
It is accepted that normal geological events are governed by actualism, but that eventual catastrophic phenomena also influence.
Catastrophists assume that the Earth has a relatively recent age, initially determined as no more than 6,000 years. Later, as geological studies progressed, it was estimated at about 600 million years.
This made it necessary to explain its shape changes through rapid processes, adjusted to the relatively short time considered..
For the original catastrophists, species had been created by God in successive stages, depending on the periods of catastrophes. A catastrophe occurred that extinguished the created species leaving fossils, and the site was occupied by new species.
The geological phenomena observed today are not enough to explain the discontinuities of the fossil record. Processes such as erosion or the flow of a river could not explain how large masses of species disappeared in a relatively short time.
Explaining what is observed in the geological layers of the Earth, especially the fossils appearing periodically, required the occurrence of sudden changes. Therefore, sudden, violent and large-scale events had to happen, that is, catastrophic..
For catastrophists the orogeny (formation of mountains) and the rise and fall of the sea level occurred almost instantaneously..
Catastrophism accepts that between one catastrophe and another there are slow and gradual processes that help to shape the Earth. However, they prioritize catastrophes as primary causes.
The first argument against catastrophism came from the correct dating of the age of the Earth, which is much higher than the 6,000 or 600 million years raised at the beginning. The Earth actually formed about 5 billion years ago, a period that allowed gradual processes to achieve great geological changes..
The acceptance of evolutionary theory by the scientific world left the creationist theory on which catastrophism was based without bases. The current species had evolved from others that became extinct, they were not new creations.
Science has proven that there are phenomena that take a long time to develop, such as fossilization and orogeny. The fossilization of animal remains does not occur violently, it takes millions of years in which layers of sediment are slowly deposited.
Likewise, the formation of mountains, valleys and other geographical features occurs in gradual processes over millions of years. There are even catastrophic events that have their origin in gradual events, such as volcanism and earthquakes with plate tectonics..
Thus, volcanic eruptions are violent, like earthquakes, and occur in a short time. But they are caused by the accumulation of energy over millions of years, in gradual processes..
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