Question #0675b
1 Answer
The scientist makes the assumption that the rate of erosion that can be observed and measured today is the same as the rate and forces that have always operated in the past.
Explanation:
Uniformitarianism is an unproven assumption that the present is the key to the past. It is an assumption that the forces that can be observed operating today are the same as the forces that have always operated in the past.
By using these assumptions the scientists can compare kind of weathering he can observe the effect on rocks and strata operating presently to the effects observed on a rock that was weathered in the past. This enables the scientists to make conclusions about the cause and rate of weathering on the rock being studied.
These assumptions do not always work as in the example of the Grand Coulee waterfall in Western Washington. The present rate of erosion on the rocks and strata is extremely slow. The principles of uniformitarianism lead to a conclusion of a vast age for the structure. The confirmed theory of the Mousula Flood indicated that the erosion had happened suddenly perhaps in a manner of weeks, not hundreds of years. The theory of an ice dam breaking and flooding a vast area was popularized in the the movie Ice Age the Meltdown.
