Neptunism Geol.
(ˈnɛptjuːnɪz(ə)m)
[f. Neptune + -ism.]
= Neptunianism.
| 1905 A. Geikie Founders of Geol. (ed. 2) viii. 257 Powerful as an advocate for the Vulcanist doctrines in opposition to the prevailing Neptunism of his time, he wrote some excellent monographs on the geology of different parts of Italy. 1951 C. C. Gillispie Genesis & Geol. ii. 46 The appeal of Neptunism is easier to understand than its acceptability. 1953 S. F. Mason Hist. Sci. xxxiii. 321 In the period 1790–1830..the Vulcanist view became associated with the theory that rock strata had gradually evolved, and Neptunism with the theory that the strata were formed suddenly and catastrophically. 1966 Mercian Geol. I. 291 The geological concepts Plutonism and Neptunism have, until recently, been thought to belong more properly to the igneous and sedimentary environments respectively. |