Neptunism and the succession of formations (Werner)
Neptunismo y sucesión de formaciones (Werner)
- Date
- 1774-1787 · confidence high
- Place
- Freiberg, Saxony, Germany
- Credited to
- Abraham Gottlob Werner
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
From the Freiberg Mining Academy, Werner taught that all rocks, even basalt and granite, precipitated from a primeval ocean that gradually receded, and he ordered them in successive formations (primitive, transitional, stratified and alluvial). His system dominated European geology until the volcanism of Desmarest and Hutton displaced it.
The theory proved wrong in essentials (basalt is volcanic), but its stratigraphy by formations and its observational method were very influential. His Kurze Klassifikation dates from 1787.
What it led to
- training of generations of geologists (von Buch, Humboldt, Jameson)
- the Neptunism-Plutonism debate, which drove fieldwork