Neptunism

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Neptunism is a discredited and obsolete scientific theory of geology proposed by Abraham Werner in the late 18th century that proposed rocks formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans.

It was named after Neptune, the ancient Roman name for the ancient Greek god of the sea, Poseidon. Neptunism lost mainstream scientific support in the early 19th century as the principle of uniformitarianism was shown to fit better with the geological facts as they became better known. Plutonism then replaced Neptunism. In modern geology, many different forms of rock formation are acknowledged, and the formation of sedimentary rock occurs through processes very similar to those described by Neptunism.

The French naturalist Georges de Buffon championed this idea and concluded that the center of volcanic activity was not deep in the bowels of earth but near the surface, where it was exposed to wind and rain.

The theory, and its intellectual context, are treated with engaging irony in Daniel Kehlmann's fictionalised account of the travels of Alexander von Humboldt, Measuring the World (2006).

[edit] References

• Erickson, Jon, Plate Tectonics, New York: Facts On File, 1992