Deep time

For other uses, see Deep time (disambiguation).

Deep time is a term introduced and applied by John McPhee to the concept of geologic time in his book Basin and Range (1981), parts of which originally appeared in The New Yorker magazine.[1]

The philosophical concept of geological time was developed in the 18th century by Scottish geologist James Hutton;[2][3] his "system of the habitable Earth" was a deistic mechanism keeping the world eternally suitable for humans.[4] The modern concept entails huge changes over the age of the Earth which has been determined to be, after a long and complex history of developments, around 4.55 billion years.[5]

  1. ^ McPhee 1998, p. 77.
  2. ^ Palmer & Zen.
  3. ^ Kubicek 2008.
  4. ^ M. J. S. Rudwick (15 October 2014). Earth's Deep History: How It Was Discovered and Why It Matters. University of Chicago Press. pp. 68–70. ISBN 978-0-226-20393-5.
  5. ^ Braterman, Paul S. "How Science Figured Out the Age of Earth". Scientific American. Retrieved 2016-04-17.