What were the various theories about the age of the Earth? How did these theories lead to advances in science and new discoveries?

Answer 1

· The first theory about the age of the Earth was based on the genealogy of the Bible's Old Testament. It was proposed by Bishop James Ussher. This theory estimated that the Earth was approximately 6,000 years old.
· James Hutton thought the Earth was older than what the Bible dictated. He made observations about the erosion rates, sediment distribution, and patterns of rock formations. Hutton believed that all geological features and history could be explained by the same processes that were being observed in present times. This theory is called uniformitarianism.
· Catastrophism tried to answer the questions that uniformitarianism brought up, but was unable to answer. For example, Hutton's theory did not explain why the Earth was not flat if there was erosion occurring all throughout Earth's history. They maintained that biblical catastrophes like the flood mislead the appearance of the Earth's age. Events like this caused animals to go extinct and shells to be transported to the tops of mountains.
· Scientists from all three perspectives began trying to prove their own theory or disprove the others. This increased after Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace introduced natural selection, a process that would take long periods of time to explain the diversity of life on the planet. Technology improved and samples were taken during this period. Also, patterns were able to be identified in fossils.