A Discussion on the evolution of the Precambrian crust - Introductory remarks

1973 ◽  
Vol 273 (1235) ◽  
pp. 316-316 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early History ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Precambrian Rocks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Geological Processes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

The realization that the behaviour of the Earth has changed radically during geological time has come about largely in the last decade. This development, which constitutes one of the major advances in geological thinking, results from the study of Precambrian phenomena in many parts of the world and in particular from the work of a small number of geochronologists. In the last ten years as large numbers of unfossiliferous Precambrian rocks have been dated, it has become clear that the nature of geological processes has varied throughout geological time and that one of the cardinal doctrines of geology - the concept that the present is the key to the past — could not be applied to the study of the early history of the Earth.

The Common Fossils of The British Rocks

The Geologist ◽  
1858 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-29
Author(s):  
S. J. Mackie
Keyword(s):  
Past History ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

In a magazine devoted especially to the propagation of Geological knowledge, it seems no infringement of its space, no deterioration of its value, tha t some pains should be taken to aid the student in his early efforts, and to disperse broadcast some useful elementary information, which may prove to the mass at once a source of instruction and of enjoyment, and so, by clearing the road to future and higher studies, may foster a dawning taste, and ultimately prove the means of adding many volunteers, and not unlikely even some brilliant master-minds to the ranks of Geologists, that otherwise, deterred at the outset, might perhaps have turned their attention and talents to some more accessible, if not more congenial study.Who does not feel some interest in the past history of this beautiful world—the scene of our labours and of our loves—of our successes and of our failures—the stage of our existence and the tomb of our dust ? If the animated creations of the past were dumb brute animals, still the earth was green and gay with trees, and plants and flowers—the hu m of insects vibrated on the summer's air, and the snows of winter covered the ancient lands with their hyemal mantle—the tides of ocean rose and fell, and the world went rolling on through time and space, through years and seasons. There were earthquakes the n and blazing volcanos—and winds and storms—great waves and merry dancing ripples on the sea.

Introduction: The Instability of Scientific Truth

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Oreskes
Keyword(s):  
Underground Water ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Success Of Science ◽  
Scientific Truth

Scientists are interested in truth. They want to know how the world really is, and they want to use that knowledge to do things in the world. In the earth sciences, this has meant developing methods of observation to determine the shape, structure, and history of the earth and designing instruments to measure, record, predict, and interpret the earth’s physical and chemical processes and properties. The resulting knowledge may be used to find mineral deposits, energy resources, or underground water; to delineate areas of earthquake and volcanic hazard; to isolate radioactive and toxic wastes; or to make inferences and predictions about the earth’s past and future climate. The past century has produced a prodigious amount of factual knowledge about the earth, and prodigious demands are now being placed on that knowledge. The history of science demonstrates, however, that the scientific truths of yesterday are often viewed as misconceptions, and, conversely, that ideas rejected in the past may now be considered true. History is littered with the discarded beliefs of yesteryear, and the present is populated by epistemic resurrections. This realization leads to the central problem of the history and philosophy of science: How are we to evaluate contemporary science’s claims to truth given the perishability of past scientific knowledge? This question is of considerable philosophic interest and of practical import as well. If the truths of today are the falsehoods of tomorrow, what does this say about the nature of scientific truth? And if our knowledge is perishable and incomplete, how can we warrant its use in sensitive social and political decision-making? For many, the success of science is its own best defense. From jet flight to the smallpox vaccine, from CD players to desktop scanners, contemporary life is permeated by technology enabled by scientific insight. We benefit daily from the liberating effects of petroleum found with the aid of geological knowledge, microchips manufactured with the aid of physical knowledge, materials synthesized with the aid of chemical knowledge. Our view of life — and death — is conditioned by the results of scientific research and the capabilities of technological control.

scholarly journals On the Devonian age of the World

The Geologist ◽  
1861 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 332-347
Author(s):  
W. Pengelly
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Geological History ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
Astronomical Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Devonian Age

The rooks composing the earth's crust contain a history and represent time—a history of changes numerous, varied, and important: changes in the distribution of land and water; in the thermal conditions of the world; and in the character of the organic tribes which have successively peopled it. The time required for these mutations must have been vast beyond human comprehension, requiring, for its expression, units of a higher order than years or centuries. In the existing state of our knowledge it is impossible to convert geological into astronomical time: it is at present, and perhaps always will be, beyond our power to determine how many rotations on its axis, or how many revolutions round the sun the earth made between any two recognised and well-marked events in its geological history. Nevertheless it is possible, and eminently convenient, to break up geological time into great periods: it must not be supposed, however, that such periods are necessarily equal in chronological, organic, or lithological value; or separated from one another by broadly marked lines of demarcation; or that either their commencements or terminations in different and widely separated districts were strictly synchronous.One of the terms in the chronological series of the geologist is known as the Devonian, that which preceeded it the Silurian, and the succeeding one the Carboniferous period; and these, with some others of less importance, belong to the Palæozoic or ancient-life epoch, or group of periods.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 177-188
Author(s):  
Beth Cykowski
Keyword(s):  
Human Existence ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mode Of Being ◽  
Do So

Heidegger argues in The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics (FCM) that the world of Dasein is not a neat capsule of entities that are always available; it is ‘ruptured’ by a fundamental finitude that impels it to develop its own anchoring in physis. The temporality of human existence is staged against the backdrop of absolute, geological time, the time of earthly entities, insofar as human beings are finite organisms that are temporally bounded to a particular lifespan. But this ‘terrestrial’ time is discernible only from the perspective of a mode of being that takes time as such into account. Our conceptions of the dawn of time and the timespan of the earth, as Schalow says, always ‘derive their relevance from Dasein’s mode of historicalness, and ultimately, from the history of being itself. To the extent that we can refer to “geological time”, a time of the earth, the ability to do so still hinges upon the possibility of an awareness of such terrestrial origins, of the ...

Introductory remarks

1982 ◽  
Vol 306 (1492) ◽  
pp. 9-10 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Geomagnetic Field ◽  
Early History ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Additional Constraints

The suggestion for this Discussion Meeting was put forward more than three years ago. The format of the programme has changed many times since the original version, reflecting in part changing interests in different aspects of the subject. Of the 25 papers to be presented, only 5 discuss the constitution of the core, 13 deal with the geomagnetic field (including the secular variation and reversals) and all but 1 of the remaining 7 on geophysical interpretations are also concerned with the geomagnetic field. This emphasis on geomagnetism reflects the additional constraints that the absence or presence of a magnetic field may put on the constitution of all the planets and the Moon. In contrast to the Earth, the record of the first 10 9 years of planetary history is still at least partly preserved on the Moon, Mercury and Mars (and perhaps on Venus), and a study of this record on these other bodies may yield some information on the early history of the Earth. We have some seismic data for the Moon, but it is only for the Earth that we have a rich store of such data. In this connection, a word of caution is in order. It must not be forgotten that the structure of the Earth as revealed by seismic data is only a snapshot of what it is like today, and in many ways a very imperfect snapshot. There is no science of palaeoseismology, and seismic data tell us nothing about the structure of the Earth in the past nor of its evolution.

Concepts of Natural Law and Time in the History of Geology

1989 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Guntau
Keyword(s):  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
Geological Processes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of Geology ◽  
Cyclic Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law

Our contemporary conceptions of time in terms of geology have developed since the Renaissance. In addition to an adequate notion of the age of the earth, these ideas include different concepts of the nature of geological processes in history. Until the 19th century the different concepts of geological time were determined by views on cyclic processes and processes which have a direction, as well as sequences of events, with or without relations between their various phases. These different aspects of geological thought have finally been incorporated into evolutionary conceptions of geohistory. Despite objective and epistemological problems, geological laws were formulated in the history of geology such as the law of superposition by Steno in 1669, the law of stratigraphy by Smith in 1799, and the law of development of the earth by Cotta in 1858. Laws of nature are interpreted as essential correlations of a general and necessary nature which exist independently of human cognition. Some fundamental geological processes have not been effective throughout the history of the earth. Presupposing that these processes were governed by natural laws as well, it is inferred that laws of nature exist over certain different periods of time. There are four possibilities of how long laws of nature, or combinations of them, can exist: (1) temporally unlimited existence, (2) existence from the beginning up to a certain point in time, (3) existence from a certain point in time up to the present time, (4) existence over a certain past period of time. Thus the science of geology shows that natural laws are of a historical nature, in that they do not exist eternally nor everywhere.

IX. Discussion

1965 ◽  
Vol 258 (1088) ◽  
pp. 107-108
Keyword(s):  
Geophysical Methods ◽  
Continental Drift ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Long Term Changes ◽  
History Of

Although the primary subject of the Symposium was continental drift, this is only one aspect of a larger problem. Eventually, consideration of changes in magmatic, metamorphic and tectonic activity through the history of the crust should enable us to put forward a hypothesis to account for the behaviour of the upper parts of the Earth through geological time. As had been pointed out, most geophysical methods provided information about the current state of the Earth and part of the great value of palaeomagnetic studies lay in the fact that they produced information about the past. Some information about the behaviour of possible convection cells during continental drift could be obtained from other long-term changes in the crust. The incidence of magmatic and metamorphic activity gave some indication as to the distribution of regions where there had been an unusually high accession of heat in the past.

scholarly journals Earthly births

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Benjamin
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Political Concept ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Slow Violence ◽  
Climate Crisis

The aim of this article is straightforward: to present two clarifications of Hannah- Arendt’s seasoned political concept of natality and to conclude by positioning this new account of natality within the context of the climate crisis. In many ways, this concluding section, where natality is read as a form of historical emancipation, hinges on the degree to which I succeed in reframing existing conversations around natality. In the first instance I submit an ‘earthly reading’ of natality before turning to discuss the historical implications of this ‘re-earthed’ natality as enacting a form of weak messianism akin to that of Walter Benjamin. Rethinking natality in this way, I present an account of Arendt’s work as always already inclined towards the issues brought to light in the climate crisis. And so, while the forms of emancipation and redemption that I locate in natality may already be commonly read in natal actions, which break spontaneously into the world and recall the originality of appearance, I nevertheless contend that its political implications reach new grounds with the revisions that I offer in the body of my article. By way of conclusion, I join critical Anthropocene theorists in contending with the ‘slow violence’, ‘willed racial blindness’ and ‘crises of the imagination’ that the climate crisis elicits. This is the setting that sits behind my intervention into natality and, in turn, it is this setting that I suggest can be illuminated through the weak messianism of a ‘re-earthed’ natality. Arguing for Arendt’s latent consideration of the earth, I hope to expose the ruined fragments of the past that shape the present crisis and gesture towards their radical redemption. If I succeed in showing that natality can be used as a resource to rethink both the prehistory and the present of the climate crisis then I will have achieved a reorientation in thinking about Arendt’s politics. Which is merely to say that I will have revealed concerns for the earth as intrinsic to natal actions and, in turn, their appearance as messianic disruptions on the earth. Prompted by the need to think critically about the historical appearance of the climate crisis whilst retaining, at the same time, the injunction to think expansively about future action – that is, as not determined exclusively by the violence of the climate crisis – this article defends a reconsideration of natality as a form of critical historical intervention. Formulating this reconstruction is then ‘operationalised’ in the concluding section where I invoke its revolutionary force in remapping the history of the climate crisis.

History of Tour de France from the Geographical Point of View

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 255-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimír Bačík ◽  
Michal Klobučník
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
The Past ◽  
Advanced Technologies ◽  
The World ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
Tour De France ◽  
Wide Circle ◽  
History Of ◽  
Expert Community ◽  
Geographical Point

Abstract The Tour de France, a three week bicycle race has a unique place in the world of sports. The 100th edition of the event took place in 2013. In the past of 110 years of its history, people noticed unique stories and duels in particular periods, celebrities that became legends that the world of sports will never forget. Also many places where the races unfolded made history in the Tour de France. In this article we tried to point out the spatial context of this event using advanced technologies for distribution of historical facts over the Internet. The Introduction briefly displays the attendance of a particular stage based on a regional point of view. The main topic deals with selected historical aspects of difficult ascents which every year decide the winner of Tour de France, and also attract fans from all over the world. In the final stage of the research, the distribution of results on the website available to a wide circle of fans of this sports event played a very significant part (www.tdfrance.eu). Using advanced methods and procedures we have tried to capture the historical and spatial dimensions of Tour de France in its general form and thus offering a new view of this unique sports event not only to the expert community, but for the general public as well.

A Long, Long Way

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Garrett
Keyword(s):  
People Of Color ◽  
Racial Reconciliation ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hollywood Films ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Race And Culture

Hollywood films are perhaps the most powerful storytellers in American history, and their depiction of race and culture has helped to shape the way people around the world respond to race and prejudice. Over the past one hundred years, films have moved from the radically prejudiced views of people of color to the depiction of people of color by writers and filmmakers from within those cultures. In the process, we begin to see how films have depicted negative versions of people outside the white mainstream, and how film might become a vehicle for racial reconciliation. Religious traditions offer powerful correctives to our cultural narratives, and this work incorporates both narrative truth-telling and religious truth-telling as we consider race and film and work toward reconciliation. By exploring the hundred-year period from The Birth of a Nation to Get Out, this work acknowledges the racist history of America and offers the possibility of hope for the future.

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