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PART IV

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 657 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PART IV .—DYNAMICAL See also:GEOLOGY This See also:section of the See also:science includes the investigation of those processes of See also:change which are at See also:present in progress upon the See also:earth, whereby modifications are made on the structure and See also:composition of the crust, on the relations between the interior and the See also:surface, as shown by volcanoes, earthquakes and other terrestrial disturbances; on the See also:distribution of oceans and continents, on the outlines of the See also:land, on the See also:form and See also:depth of the See also:sea-bottom, on See also:climate, and on the races of See also:plants and animals by which the earth is tenanted. It brings before us, in See also:short, the whole range of activities which it is the See also:province of geology to study, and leads us to precise notions regarding their relations to each other and the results which they achieve. A knowledge of this See also:branch of the subject is thus the essential groundwork of a true and fruitful acquaintance with the principles of geology, seeing that it necessitates a study of the present See also:order of nature, and thus provides a See also:key for the See also:interpretation of the past. The whole range of operations included within the See also:scope of inquiry in this branch of the science may be regarded as a vast See also:cycle of change, into which we may break at any point, and See also:round which we may travel, only to find ourselves brought back to our starting-point. It is a See also:matter of comparatively small moment at what part of the cycle we begin our inquiries. We shall always find that the changes we see in See also:action have resulted from some that preceded, and give See also:place to others which follow them. At an See also:early See also:time in the earth's See also:history, anterior to any of the periods of which a See also:record remains in the visible rocks, the See also:chief See also:sources of See also:geological action probably See also:lay within the earth itself. If, as is generally supposed, the See also:planet still retained a See also:great See also:store of its initial See also:heat, it was doubtless the See also:theatre of great chemical changes, giving rise, perhaps, to manifestations of volcanic See also:energy somewhat like those which have so marvellously roughened the surface of the See also:moon. As the See also:outer layers of the globe cooled, and the disturbances due to See also:internal heat and chemical action became less marked, the conditions would arise in which the materials for geological history were accumulated. The See also:influence of the See also:sun, which must always have operated, would then stand out more clearly, giving rise to that wide circle of superficial changes wherein See also:variations of temperature and the circulation of See also:air and See also:water over the surface of the earth come into See also:play. In the pursuit of his inquiries into the past history and into the present regime of the earth, the geologist must needs keep his mind ever open to the reception of See also:evidence for kinds and especially for degrees of action which he had not before imagined. Human experience has been too short to allow him to assume that all the causes and modes of geological change have been definitively ascertained.

On the earth itself there may remain for future See also:

discovery evidence of former operations by heat, See also:magnetism, chemical change or otherwise, which may explain many of the phenomena with which geology has to See also:deal. Of the influences, so many and profound, which the sun exerts upon our planet, we can as yet only perceive a little. Nor can we tell what other cosmical influences may have See also:lent their aid in the See also:evolution of geological changes. Much useful See also:information regarding many geological processes has been obtained from experimental See also:research in laboratories and elsewhere, and much more may be confidently looked for from future extensions of this method of inquiry. The early experiments of See also:Sir See also:James See also:Hall, already noticed, formed the starting-point for numerous subsequent researches, which have elucidated many points in the origin and history of rocks. It is true that we cannot See also:hope to imitate those operations of nature which demand enormous pressures and excessively high temperatures combined with a See also:long See also:lapse of time. But experience has shown that in regard to a large, number of processes, it is possible to imitate nature's working with sufficient accuracy to enable us to understand them, and so to modify and See also:control the results as to obtain a satisfactory See also:solution of some geological problems. In the present See also:state of our knowledge, all the geological energy upon and within the earth must ultimately be traced back to the primeval energy of the See also:parent nebula or sun. There is, however, a certain propriety and convenience in distinguishing between that part of it which is due to the survival of some of the See also:original energy of the planet and that part which arises from the present See also:supply of energy received See also:day by day from the sun. In the former See also:case we have to deal with the interior of the earth, and its reaction upon the surface; in the latter, we deal with the surface of the earth and to some extent with its reaction on the interior. This distinction allows of a broad treatment of the subject under two divisions: . I.

Hypogene or Plutonic Action: The changes within the earth caused by internal heat, See also:

mechanical See also:movement and chemical rearrangements. II. Epigene or Surface Action: The changes produced on the superficial parts of the earth, chiefly by the circulation of air and water set in See also:motion by the sun's heat.

End of Article: PART IV

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