First, the spherical theory of the earth
This is an ancient and primitive subject. The ancient Greek philosophers Hiketaas and Ekphautos advocated the geocentric theory, platon and Eudoxos put forward the concentric celestial body theory, and Philolaos's earth theory was a representative argument at that time. It is argued that the center of the universe is fire, which makes the earth, moon, sun and its satellites rotate; Heraclitus (540-480 BC) put forward the "Prouteau Doctrine" and advocated that "everything originates from fire": "Fire gives birth to the sea, and the sea gives birth to the earth and harmony, rising and burning into the sun; He is an advocate of the theory of two minds in the universe and the earliest proponent of the theory of celestial bodies. Thales (624-547 BC), known as one of the "seven sages" of ancient Greece, put forward Neptune, arguing that water is the source of all things, and the earth and its animals and plants are all made of water, and it is water that plays a decisive role in the change of the surface, which is an external cause. He was the first chemist to explain natural chemistry without external force. At the same time, Empedocles (492-433 BC) thought that "the four elements-water, fire, soil and gas are the origin, and put forward the inference that the core is a hot liquid. Others include the ground motion theory, the concentric celestial body theory, the geocentric formation theory and the dominant position theory. Pythagoras (580- 500 BC), the founder of the South Italian School, basically repeated the above proposition, emphasizing that all celestial bodies, including the sun, the moon and the earth, revolve around a central fire, but that all celestial bodies are spherical, which was later supported by Aristotle (384- 322 BC). In Ptolemy (about 90- 168), it was a long night in the history of scientific development to further improve the geocentric theory with the combination of even wheel and stream wheel.
It was not until the European Renaissance that the Polish astronomer Copernicus (N. Copernicus,1473-1543)1543 published the Theory of Celestial Motion that the geocentric theory of the universe was replaced by the theory of the sun center.
As Engels pointed out: "Copernicus used this book to challenge the authority of the church in natural affairs. Since then, natural science has been liberated from theology. " It is also the horn of the new era of geology, which enables us to explore the mystery of the origin and evolution of the earth from a new angle.
Second, understand the internal structure of the earth from volcanic earthquakes.
Exploring the internal structure and activities of the earth from the observation of volcanic earthquakes began as early as Roman times. For example, in 79, when Mount Vesuvius erupted (S. Plinius.23-79), he died of suffocation in order to obtain on-site observation during the eruption, and he was the first person in the world to die for exploring geological phenomena. Published natural history (37 volumes); In the Exploration of Nature, Seneca put forward the causes of earthquakes. On Earthquake (R.Hook, 1635- 1703) is quite representative. It holds that due to underground eruption or earthquake, there have been many opposite movements between land and sea ... earthquakes can shake the whole surface, destroy mountains ... and form new mountains.
Third, infer the internal structure of the earth from the understanding of mountains and their causes.
Avicenna, an Arab scholar (lbn Sina, Avicenna, 980- 1037) published The Origin of Mountains in1021-KLOC-0/023, citing strong earthquakes as an argument, arguing that earthquakes caused land to rise, forming islands and mountains, and put forward the idea of building mountains. 1206 ——1208d. Ristoro published "Formation of Mountains" in 1282, believing that it was the influence of celestial bodies, not earthquakes. By 1852, Beaumont published the Genetic System of Mountains.
The second part discusses the theory of tectonic geology in early geoscience works. 1. The theory of structural geology sprouted in16—17th century. 16th century later, science got rid of the shackles of religious theology. The development of European industry and the urgent search for metal minerals have strongly promoted the development of mining industry, and people have also realized the important role of geological structure knowledge from the search for mineral deposits.
The Italian mentioned in the last article? I won't go into details about the theory of Agelii Cora of Germany, especially in the book Hard Objects in Natural Solids published by Danish scholar Stino (1638- 1686) in 1669. When it comes to the theory of rock stratum extension, he points out that the rock stratum inclines due to disturbance and destruction, and established the theory of Tuscany, Italy.
(1) The land completely sank into the sea due to stratum accumulation.
(2) Land goes out to sea and becomes a plain.
(3) The ground cracks are mountains, cliffs and hills.
(4) The land sinks into the sea again, which is caused by the change of the earth's center of gravity.
(5) The land emerges from the water and becomes a plain. Due to the deposition of sediments, the ocean widens and rises.
(6) The raised plains are eroded by flowing water and turned into valleys and cliffs by underground hydraulic force.
He proposed that sedimentary rocks are horizontal, and volcanic folds, faults and denudation formed mountains.
Understand the earth and explore its structure, such as the Philosophical Principles published by Descartes (1596- 1650) in 1644 and the Internal Structure of the Earth later published, put forward the hypothesis of the origin and internal structure of the earth, and thought that the earth has a long history, and made a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the earth to divide it into. 1684, Burnet (1635-1715) published "the theory of sacred soil", which is a systematic flood theory. It holds that the primitive earth has no mountains and oceans, and it has a great influence on Europe at that time. Leibniz (1646- 17 16) published The Formation of the Earth and the Primitive Earth (1693) in 1693, and thought that the primitive land mass had two origins: one was the cooling of igneous melt. Pallas (1741—1811) expounded the general laws of mountain structure.
Leibniz's earth theory develops the speculative theory of celestial evolution from the philosophical concept, and has its own unique arguments for the understanding of the formation and development of the universe. He believes that when the earth's crust cools enough to condense into steam, the ocean that flooded the mountains formed. He proposed that the crust has a porous structure. Due to the destruction, the horizontal strata are inclined, the static (stable) area becomes a mountain range, and the subsidence area forms a canyon. This view of the earth was developed on the basis of Descartes' view of the earth, and was later developed by Lehman and others. It can be regarded as the founder of primitive ocean theory, earth cooling theory and the earliest contraction theory.
Second, in the18th century, the theory and thought of structural geology were developed in the judgment of understanding the earth.
1. Understanding of Earth Structure in Kant-Laplace Cosmic Quantum Theory
/kloc-the theory of diluvium and the theory of water formation dominated in the 8th century, and the understanding of the formation of the earth can be demonstrated by the earth theory of the German philosopher Kant (1724- 1804). Kant's philosophical thought holds that the highest field of human cognition is rationality, but rationality is guided by subjective concepts. Space, time, causality and the laws of nature are not the characteristics of nature itself, but the characteristics of human cognitive ability, and they are typical mediators of idealism and materialism. However, in his magnum opus General History of Nature and Theory of Celestial Bodies published in 1755, he put forward a dialectical view of the universe-the nebula theory about the evolution of the solar system, which was praised by many scholars and played an important role in the development of the progressive thought of cosmology and earth epistemology. Engels spoke highly of it in Dialectics of Nature, pointing out that Kant-Laplace's theory opened a "gap" for breaking through the rigid metaphysical theory.
His "On the Earth" was published in 1754. Based on the theory of ocean tides, it is proposed that the rotation of the earth is slowed down by the friction of tides. His basic argument about the causes of volcanoes and earthquakes is correct and scientific.
French astronomer P.S. Laplace (1796- 1807) made an important supplement to Kant's theory of the origin of the sun, which is called Kant-Laplace's theory of the origin of the universe.
2. Buffon's understanding of the formation of the earth in On the Earth, the famous French naturalist Buffon (Boffon, G.L., 1707- 1788), wrote in the first volume of On the Earth (65438+). All changes on the earth, including the formation of continents and primitive oceans, are determined by natural factors. The origin of the solar system is explained by mechanical principles. His theoretical views are contrary to the doctrine of the sacred road. 175 1 year, he was warned by the theological society of the University of Paris and asked him to publicly renounce his views on the earth.
Buffon's theory about the formation of the earth, he insisted on materialism, and he clearly pointed out: "There are many similarities between the earth and the sun. The earth is a cool little sun, and the substances on the earth have evolved into oceans and deserts, producing animals and plants, and finally giving birth to human beings. " Buffon believes that the evolution of the earth is not that God created the nature we live in, as the Bible Genesis says, but that it has formed its present state through a long evolution. Buffon's exposition is the basis for studying the earth, mountains, rivers and oceans, and seeking the ground change, which opens a precedent for modern geological research.
In 1844, Engels spoke highly of Buffon's exposition on natural history in Forward, pointing out: "Because of the recognition of the shape of the earth and people's numerous trips, geography has been raised to a scientific level, natural history has also been raised to a scientific level by Buffon and Linnaeus, and even geology has begun to break away from the abyss of absurd hypotheses it fell into in the past."
He was also the first person to put forward the theory of earth impact, and divided the earth into seven development stages in the book Natural Times.
(1) A comet grazed the solid sun, bringing out a lot of hot materials. Among them, the larger fragments wrapped in gas revolved around the sun while rotating, and gradually solidified into planets. This is how the earth was formed. (2) The earth and other planets are semi-liquid melts at first, and finally a oblate sphere protruding from the equator is formed due to rotation around the axis; (3) The earth's temperature drops gradually, forming a hard shell, and folds appear to produce mountains and seabed; (4) The moisture in the atmosphere condenses into an ocean that floods the whole earth; (5) Crustal uplift is eroded by seawater, broken rocks begin to deposit, and biological remains are buried to form fossils; (6) Cracks appear in the earth's crust, a large amount of water is poured into the earth's interior, and plants grow naked on land. Land animals appear, and finally humans appear; (7) A large number of organic substances were buried underground to form the first batch of volcanoes, which erupted to form the present rock strata, but he ignored the factors of energy inside the earth and crustal movement; Buffon's views on the origin and evolution of the earth are scientific to some extent, but there are many defects in theory, even obvious mistakes, such as calculating the age of the earth. However, he has made progress in anti-theology and religious rule, and has a far-reaching impact on the theory of Shuicheng, the theory of chaebol and the theory of catastrophe.
Buffon died on 1788 at the age of 8 1. In recognition of his contribution, a bronze statue was cast in the imperial garden, engraved with the words "to a genius as great as nature".