Question

Theory of catastrophism for origin of life was given by
A)Aristotle
B)James Hutton
C)G.Cuvier
D)Carolus Linneaus

Answer 1

Hint: Catastrophism, a doctrine that explains the differences in fossil forms encountered at successive stratigraphic levels as a product of repeated cataclysmic occurrences and repeated new creations.

Complete answer:
Catastrophism is the theory that, in the past, the Earth has been affected by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. The concept was first popularized by French scientist Georges Cuvier at the beginning of the 19th century, who suggested that new life forms had moved from other areas after local floods, avoiding religious or metaphysical speculation in his scientific writings.

Thus, option C is correct. Aristotle postulated the theory of spontaneous generation. It is not related to the theory of catastrophe. As a result, option A is wrong. Uniformitarianism, coined by William Whewell, was originally proposed in contrast to the catastrophism of British naturalists in the late 18th century, starting with the work of the Scottish geologist James Hutton, who was refined by John Playfair and popularized by Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology in 1830. Therefore, option B is wrong.

Catastrophism was a theory developed by Georges Cuvier on the basis of paleontological evidence in the Paris Basin. Cuvier was there when he saw something strange about the fossil record. Instead of finding a continuous succession of fossils, Cuvier noticed several gaps where all evidence of life would disappear and then suddenly reappear after a considerable amount of time.

Catastrophism was a theory developed by Georges Cuvier on the basis of paleontological evidence in the Paris Basin. Cuvier was there when he saw something strange about the fossil record. Instead of finding a continuous succession of fossils, Cuvier noticed several gaps where all evidence of life would disappear and then suddenly reappear after a considerable amount of time.

Hence, the correct answer is option (C)

Note: Abraham Werner, the leading geologist of the 18th century, was an avid supporter of the disaster. Werner was the most influential supporter of neptunism, the theory that most of the rocks that could be seen on the surface of the earth were once precipitated out of a vast ocean. As a result, Werner used disaster as evidence to prove that the earth had experienced massive floods throughout geological history.However, both the catastrophe and the neptunism would eventually be discarded in the 19th century.