Book contents
- From Crust to Core
- From Crust to Core
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Why Carbon in Earth Matters
- 2 The Origin of Deep Carbon in Deep Space
- 3 Deliveries of Cosmic Carbon Continue
- 4 On the Nature of Earth’s Interior
- 5 Earth’s Physical Interior Revealed
- 6 Thousands, Millions or Billions
- 7 Physics and Chemistry of Deep Earth
- 8 Confronting the Continental Drift Conundrum
- 9 The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Rift Valley
- 10 Earth’s Deep Dynamics Discovered
- 11 Reversals of Fortune
- 12 Deep Carbon
- 13 Carbon-Bearing Phases in the Mantle
- 14 Diamond in the Mantle
- 15 Deep Life
- Glossary
- Biographical Notes
- Index
- References
6 - Thousands, Millions or Billions
The Question of Timing
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 December 2020
Book contents
- From Crust to Core
- From Crust to Core
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Why Carbon in Earth Matters
- 2 The Origin of Deep Carbon in Deep Space
- 3 Deliveries of Cosmic Carbon Continue
- 4 On the Nature of Earth’s Interior
- 5 Earth’s Physical Interior Revealed
- 6 Thousands, Millions or Billions
- 7 Physics and Chemistry of Deep Earth
- 8 Confronting the Continental Drift Conundrum
- 9 The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Rift Valley
- 10 Earth’s Deep Dynamics Discovered
- 11 Reversals of Fortune
- 12 Deep Carbon
- 13 Carbon-Bearing Phases in the Mantle
- 14 Diamond in the Mantle
- 15 Deep Life
- Glossary
- Biographical Notes
- Index
- References
Summary
In this chapter, I assess the connections between the studies of deep carbon as the carbonate component of fossils and the role of deep time for a reconstruction of Earth history. I leave the history of the absolute calibration of deep time for the following chapter. William Smith’s standout contribution to the practice of geology in England was his achievement in tracing the courses of the strata. He introduced the principle of faunal succession in his book Strata – Identified by Organized Fossils, a short book with colored plates published in 1816. That publication turned his private cabinet of curiosities into a public resource of the characteristic fossils in rock formations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- From Crust to CoreA Chronicle of Deep Carbon Science, pp. 97 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Rudwick, M. J. Earth’s Deep History: How It Was Discovered and Why It Matters (University of Chicago Press, 2014).Google Scholar
Cuvier, G. Mémoire sur les espèces d’Eléphans tant vivantes que fossiles. Magasin encyclopédique 2, 444 (1796).Google Scholar
Cuvier, G. Mémoire sur les espèces d’éléphans vivantes et fossiles. Mémoire de I’Academie des Sciences Paris 2, 1–22 (1799).Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. Cuvier and Brongniart, William Smith, and the reconstruction of geohistory. Earth Sciences History 15, 25–36 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farey, J. Geological remarks and queries on Messrs Brogniart’s memoir on the mineral geography of the environs of Paris. Philosophical Magazine 35, 113–139 (1810).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutton, J. Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1, 209–304 (1788).Google Scholar
Hutton, J. Theory of the Earth: With Proofs and Illustrations. 1 (Library of Alexandria, 1795).Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. S. The strategy of Lyell’s Principles of Geology. Isis 61, 5–33 (1970).Google Scholar
Sedgwick, A. Address to the Geological Society, delivered on the evening of the 18th of February, 1831. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 1, 305–306 (1831).Google Scholar
Sedgwick, A. Appendix: The second of three letters to William Wordsworth on the geology of the Lake District. In Complete Guide to the Lakes by Wordsworth, W. A. (Hudson and Nicholson, 1842).Google Scholar
Galvez, M. E. and Gaillardet, J. Historical constraints on the origins of the carbon cycle concept. Comptes Rendus Geoscience 344, 549–567 (2012).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galvez, M. E. Early roots of the carbon cycle concept. Published online for the Deep Carbon Observatory, available at: https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/handle/20.500.11850/496900, DOI: 10.3929/ethz-b-000496900 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, E. A. Lavoisier and the history of respiration. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 37, 247–264 (1943).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lavoisier, A. L. Sur le charbon. In Oeuvres de Lavoisier. 5 (Imprimerie impériale, 1793), pp. 303–310.Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. S. Georges Cuvier, Fossil Bones, and Geological Catastrophes: New Translations and Interpretations of the Primary Texts (University of Chicago Press, 2008).Google Scholar
Keynes, R. D. The Beagle Record: Selections from the Original Pictorial Records and Written Accounts of the Voyage of HMS Beagle (Cambridge University Press, 1979).Google Scholar