On the Strata of the Earth (Lomonosov)
Sobre las capas de la Tierra (Lomonosov)
- Date
- 1757-1763 · confidence medium
- Place
- Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Credited to
- Mikhail Lomonosov
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Lomonosov argued that relief changes slowly through internal and external forces, explained coal as buried plant remains and oil as underground distillation of organic matter, and assumed an Earth far older than the biblical chronology.
The text appeared as an appendix to his metallurgy treatise (1763) and was little known outside Russia; the ideas developed from 1757.
What it led to
- the Russian tradition of geology and mineralogy at the St Petersburg Academy
- organic origin of coal and oil, a basis for petroleum geology