Germination period refers to the period when ancient people vividly described various "rocks" and various hypotheses and inferences about the origin of rocks. The earliest books on "rocks" in the world are The Classic of Mountains and Seas by China in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Story of the Stone by Theophrastos in ancient Greece. These ancient civilizations have sprouted the idea of petrology.
During the brewing period from the 1970s of 18 to the 1920s of 19, there was a dispute between Shuicheng theory and Shencheng theory about the origin of rocks. Hydraulics claim that all the rocks on the earth are deposited in water; The plutonic theory does not deny the sedimentary diagenesis of water, but emphasizes the role of volcanic eruption and magmatic intrusion and the importance of igneous rocks formed from it. Hydration theory was founded by German geologist A.G.Werner in 177 1 and deep formation theory was put forward by British geologist J. Hutton in 1788.
Werner and others believe that in the early days of the earth, the surface was completely submerged by the primitive ocean, and now all the rocks on the surface are precipitated and crystallized from seawater. Granite was deposited first, and then crystalline schist was deposited. Both of them are the oldest and richest rock formations on the earth, which are called "primary strata". Then the deposit is called "transition layer", and then the rock layer containing biological fossils; The top layer is an "alluvium" composed of loose soil and sand. Werner and others only emphasize the sedimentation of water, but do not admit the existence of igneous rocks. They believe that all rocks, including basalt and granite, are deposited by water.
1788, Hutton published "Theory of the Earth" in the Journal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, opposing the view of "the formation of water" and holding that both fire and water played an important role in the formation of the crustal stratigraphic system. It is based on the fact that in 1785, he discovered three different rock types: limestone, shale and granite. Granite has finger-like and vein-like dikes and penetrates into limestone and shale. According to Werner's theory, granite is a chemical deposit from water, so there should be no such infiltration. Hutton believes that these granites that constitute dikes are not sedimentary materials in water at all, but the products of molten magma invading ancient sedimentary rocks (limestone and shale) and cooling. Hutton also found that sedimentary rocks on the edge of granite were baked. Although he has no special comment on this, it is metamorphic rock.
1830, British natural scientist C.Lyell put forward the viewpoint of multiple genesis of rocks, which divided rocks into water, fire, metamorphism and other genetic types. From the "fire-water dispute" to Lyle's classification of rocks with multiple genetic viewpoints instead of single genetic viewpoints, it is the gestation stage of petrology.
The formation period is1from the middle of 9th century to 1950s, which is the petrology formation period. At this stage, people not only deepened their understanding of the origin of rocks through a large number of field geological surveys and regional geological mapping; But also formed the branch and theory of micro-petrology, petrochemistry and magmatic differentiation.
From the late18th century to the early19th century, the study of rocks has always relied on field observation and naked eye identification. It was not until 1858 that Britain's Soapy invented the polarizing microscope, which entered the research stage of micro-petrology.
Study rocks with transparent sheets under a microscope. 1866, Cikl put forward the classification of rock (igneous rock) structure-minerals for the first time, 1873 published the characteristics of minerals and rocks under the microscope, which laid the foundation of micro-petrology. Up to now, polarizing microscope is still one of the most basic methods in petrology research.
From the end of 19 to the beginning of the 20th century, chemical petrology (petrochemistry) was formed. 1908, American chemist F.W.Clarke collected a large number of representative rock samples from all over the world for chemical analysis, published the average composition of igneous rocks in 1922 and the composition of the crust in 1924, and published the average content of 50 elements in the crust for the first time, which is a geochemical discipline.
1928, American lithologist bowen published his monograph "evolution of igneous rocks", and put forward the reaction series and its principle of mineral precipitation in calc-alkaline magma, commonly known as "bowen reaction series", which laid the theoretical foundation for magmatic differentiation and had a far-reaching impact on petrological research.
Development period Since 1950s, petrology has entered a period of rapid development. With the development of X-ray diffraction technology and electron microscopy technology, the research on the internal structure of rocks and minerals has entered the micro-area field. The development of micro-analysis techniques such as spectroscopy and mass spectrometry can accurately determine the trace elements and isotopic compositions in rocks and minerals, and provide important information for studying diagenesis, magma origin and evolution. High temperature and high pressure experiments have accumulated a lot of data for simulating and exploring the formation process of upper mantle rocks and metamorphic rocks. The rise and development of plate tectonics has promoted the continuous development of petrology, and the interaction between plates is closely related to magmatic activity, metamorphism, evolution of sedimentary basins and the formation and distribution of various sedimentary facies. The application of modern computer expands a new direction for the in-depth study of petrological data, and constantly produces new petrological theories.