The catastrophizing theory is based on the hypothesis that in ancient times the planet Earth suffered different catastrophes, such as floods, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, which caused animals to perish in different parts of the world. After these natural phenomena, other species arrived in these areas, so that the fossils found in them are different from each other.
What is it?
It is a scientific theory that states that the Earth has been shaped by natural catastrophes. In the beginning, the catastrophists argued that the Earth has an age not exceeding 6,000 years , although later studies were made that pointed to an age of 600 million years.
As for uniformitarianism , also called gradualism, it affirms just the opposite. According to this theory, changes in the Earth have occurred slowly and progressively throughout history through different geological processes such as erosion.
Origin of catastrophism
Catastrophism is a theory promoted by Georges Cuvier in the 19th century. The truth is that the Christian religion has always had a very catastrophic view of history, but it was Georges Cuvier who first used scientific evidence to support this hypothesis.
He did so as a result of discovering and studying mammoth and elephant fossils , which led him to find out that they were two different species, one extinct and the other existing. It was a very important investigation, which allowed us to find out that the Earth is much older than previously thought.
Now, Georges Cuvier did not get everything right. He assured that planet Earth had exactly the same characteristics in prehistory as in the 19th century, and that only catastrophes were responsible for the death of animals and the extinction of species. However, this is not the case since the living and climatic conditions were very different.
Neocatastrofismo
In 1980 Luis Álvarez and a group of collaborators were the first to point to the impact of a large meteorite as the reason for the mass extinction of the dinosaurs . In addition, they identified other natural catastrophes as the cause of the extinction of different species. For example, the volcanic eruption that caused the Permian extinction 250 million years ago.
