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Question
- state the principle of uniformitarianism in your own words.
Uniformitarianism is a geological (and broader scientific) principle. It states that the natural processes and laws that operate to shape the Earth's surface and modify it today (like erosion, sedimentation, volcanic activity) are the same processes that have operated in the past over long geological time scales. In other words, the present is the key to understanding the past—we can interpret ancient geological events and features by studying how similar processes work in the modern world, assuming consistency in the rate and nature of these processes over time.
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The principle of uniformitarianism means that the natural processes (such as erosion, volcanic eruptions, sediment deposition) that act on Earth to change its surface and structure today are the same processes that operated in the past, and we can use our understanding of current processes to interpret what happened in Earth's geological history.