The concept of mass extinction is a relatively recent development in the history of geology.
the verdict
SUPPORTED
the evidence backs this
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
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AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Historical studies show that the debate and formulation surrounding prehuman life and mass extinctions emerged during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
... history of life had been broadly directional and indeed progressive in character . 18 As already mentioned , Lyell was inclined to suspect that the earth's " revolu ... Geological Society " THE LAST MASS EXTINCTION ( 1826-31 ) [ 205 ]
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, scientists reconstructed the immensely long history of the earth—and the relatively recent arrival of human life. The geologists of the period, many of whom were devout believers, agreed about this vast timescale. But despite this apparent harmony between geology and Genesis, these scientists still debated a great many questions: Had the earth cooled from its origin as a fiery ball in space, or had it always been the same kind of place as it is now? Was prehuman life marked by mass extinctions, or had fauna and flora changed slowly over time? The first detailed account of the reconstruction of prehuman geohistory, Martin J. S. Rudwick’s Worlds Before Adam picks up where his celebrated Bursting the Limits of Time leaves off. Here, Rudwi