Question

What is the principle of Uniformitarianism and how is it important to the relative dating of rocks ?

Answer 1

Hint: It is a principle used by Darwinian evolution. It is vital in order to study the history of the Earth. Darwinian evolution uses this principle as the prominent notion of descent with adaptation that organisms have developed by slow gradual identical differences.

Complete answer:
The doctrine of Uniformitarianism is the notion that all geological cycles have been regulated gradually and in the same way as they are observed to regulate today.

The doctrine of uniformitarianism is utilized to date rocks based on the hypotheses of uniform procedure. If the procedure of sedimentation is examined to deposit 1 cm of soil in a year, then the generation of the sedimentary layer is estimated to be the thickness of the sedimentary layer divided by the rate of sedimentation examined.
This principle is related to the organic world as well as the geological world.

Using this principle of uniformitarianism rocks can be dated fairly. The simpler the organism, the older it is determined to be. The more complicated the organisms, the younger it is determined to be.

The only chronometric scale acceptable in geologic record for the stratigraphic category of rocks and for dating geologic events precisely is provided by the fossils. This is the doctrine of uniformitarianism pertained to dating rocks based on fossils.

There are adequate justifications to question the fact of the principle of uniformitarianism. Even the realistic theory of comet effect as the reason for the extinction of the dinosaurs goes against the hypothesis of uniformitarianism. If this is faulty then the dating of many rock layers is also faulty.

Note: The principle of uniformitarianism states that the procedures that modify the earth’s crust are the similar processes that happened millions of years before. For example, one can look inside a stream and see swell marks in the sand, created by the progression of water over the sand. If one sees ripple marks in the rock history, one can understand that an identical cycle was at work.