1. Some brief notes on Charles Lyell to accompany: Faunal Succession Activity by Hilary Clement Olson

2. Sir Charles Lyell 1797-1875 Oxford degreed, law until 1827, geology 1790s-Industrial revolution late 18th C-Scottish Enlightenment keen observation skills much influenced by Hutton’s Theory of the Earth Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time

3. Charles Lyell 1797-1875 traveled widely making observations on the geologic record and modern earth processes wrote a popular article which defended James Hutton’s views published Principles of Geology (v.1 in 1830 and v.2 in 1832) Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time

4. Charles Lyell 1797-1875 His Principles of Geology marshaled all the observations he could collect in support of the doctrine that the present is the key to the past, and almost singlehandedly established uniformitarianism as the accepted philosophy for interpretation of Earth history. Believed it was necessary to create a vaste time scale to explain Earth’s geologic history. from Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time

5. Uniformitarianism: earth’s history can be explained by observing the geological forces now at work, because these forces are identical to the ones that operated in the past “the present is the key to the past” Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time

6. Charles Lyell 1797-1875 Lyell defined the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene epochs on the basis of the relative proportion of the living and extinct fossils contained in each: Eocene = 3% living Miocene = 17% living Pliocene 50-67% living Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time

7. Charles Lyell 1797-1875 His just published Principles of Geology was one of the books Charles Darwin took with him on his famous voyage on The Beagle (1831-36), and greatly influenced Darwin’s thinking during the development of his theory of evolution. Don Eicher, 1976, Geologic Time