Wernerians thought strata were deposits from shrinking seas, but James Hutton proposed a self-maintaining infinite cycle, anticipating uniformitarianism.
The old slow and steady idea called uniformitarianism now stood alongside a new idea called catastrophism, where rapid and violent events could sometimes shape Earth's geology in ways that slower processes couldn't explain.
划分及其特征、将今论古说。
为均变论的陈旧缓慢而稳定的想法现在与
论的新想法并驾齐驱，其中快速而剧烈的事件有时
慢的过程，无法解释的方式塑造地球地质。
