Shen Kuo's theory of landform by erosion and sedimentation
Formación del relieve por erosión y sedimentación (Shen Kuo)
- Date
- c. 1080 · confidence medium
- Place
- Yan'an, Shaanxi, China
- Credited to
- Shen Kuo (Mengxi bitan)
- People
- 👤 Shen Kuo1031–1095
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
From marine shells in cliffs of the Taihang Mountains, Shen Kuo deduced that the land had formed from sediments of ancient coastlines; and from fossil bamboo in Yan'an, where it does not grow, that the climate had changed. These are very early geological arguments.
Similar ideas are found in Avicenna (c. 1020); in Europe they develop with Steno (1669) and Hutton (1788).
What it led to
- interpretation of fossils as the remains of living things
- idea of long-term climate change