Monday,
January 10, 2005
6:00 - 7:30 pm
Pellissippi State Technical Community College
10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville
Lamar Alexander Building
Room 223
JANUARY PRESENTATION
The Birthplace of
Modern Geology - 18th Century Scotland
Dr. Don W. Byerly
Professor Emeritus
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
University of Tennessee
Abstract
A recent trip afforded an
opportunity to see how Scotland's landscape and culture are
integrally related to the diverse geologic setting of the British
Isles, and how the cultural heritage of our southern Appalachians
is a reflection of the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh who
immigrated here. Scotland, as part of the ancient continent,
Laurentia, forms the northernmost extension of the Appalachian
Highlands and therefore is integrally related to the natural
history of our own Appalachians.
Our trip visited some of the same sites where observations were
made by early scientists like James Hutton, John Playfair, and
David Ure who substantially contributed to the period of
scientific "awakening" in Europe. One of the most
profound concepts established in the 18th Century was that the
Earth had a very long history or "deep time". The
publication of this concept by Charles Lyell had a strong bearing
on the seminal work by Charles Darwin. Society, especially
physicians and clergy, also became fascinated with this concept
of the Earth's antiquity, resulting in many great fossil
collections and museums of natural history. Following the lead of
James Hutton, giants like Nicol, Sedgewick, Murchison, Lyell,
Geikie, Lapworth, Peach and Horne, all Scotsmen contributed to
the founding of Modern Geology. Include William Smith from
England, south of suture with Avalonia, with this group and the
personae of geology's founding is almost complete.
The program will be a travelogue of the trip that will attempt to
relate cultural as well as geological sites visited on the trip.
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