I am having a really hard time with this question....How do you think the principle of uniformitarianism accounts for occasional catastrophic events such as meteorite impacts, huge volcanic eruptions, or great earthquakes? I am thinking because uniformitarianism is explained by “the present is the key to the past.” and that the plates within the earth are always shifting, it would have happened in the past also...Am I on the right track??

Question

I am having a really hard time with this question....How do you think the principle of uniformitarianism accounts for occasional catastrophic events such as meteorite impacts, huge volcanic eruptions, or great earthquakes?  I am thinking because uniformitarianism is explained by “the present is the key to the past.” and that the plates within the earth are always shifting, it would have happened in the past also...Am I on the right track??

anonymous · Answer

you are thinking in the right way Cristallina .........There are continental plates and they have been continuously shifting and drifting, from the point since they were born.
eg: volcanic eruptions , earth quakes, etc have been occurred in the past too.......check the recorded histories.........
Formation of mountain ranges like Himalayas is also an example as it is formed by the collision between two continental plates, and the force which gave origin.
tsunami--->earth quake--->result of drift.