4:30 PM - 4:45 PM
[MZZ41-11] Plutonism and Global Tectonics: A Historical Consideration of Scientific Thought
Keywords:Plutonism, geotectonics, James Hutton, Takuji Ogawa, history of geoscientific thought
In the history of geology, Plutonism is usually associated with the name James Hutton (1726-1797) and appears as a supporting theory of the volcanist camp in the Neptunism-Volcanism debate and the uniformitarian camp in the catastrophism-uniformitarianism debates. However, it cannot be said that the way in which each aspect functions is sufficiently segmented and explained. For example, in relation to the vulcanist theory, I get the impression that it falls within the sub-concept of "plutonic rock" due to the location of magma formation, and that the "uniformitarian theory" is confined to the framework of actualism when explaining the geological power. Of course, both are important processes, but at some point, the presence of "Plutonism" fades out from the historical narrative (Rudwick 2005).
This presentation is an attempt to review the concept of Plutonism from the perspective of a genealogy of scientific thought over a rather long span of time.
The idea of fire pools under the earth, especially the central fire, along with underground water reservoirs, is thought to have existed since ancient times, but during the Scientific Revolution, it began to be clearly iconographed as an explanatory device for earth theory. For example, Athanasius Kircher depicted the concept of a "central force" in which a central fire forms a network of rocks in the Earth's body and is linked to volcanic activity on the Earth's surface (Yamada 2017). As long as exploration of deep underground areas did not produce useful data, this kind of imagination was regarded as nothing more than contemplation, but in the first half of the 20th century, when the reality of the internal structure was revealed mainly through seismic analysis, a phenomenon that could be called the revival of "Plutonism" began to be seen.
A well-known hypothesis is Arthur Holmes' convection theory, which apparently presupposes the existence of a hot core of the earth. Takuji Ogawa (1870-1941) of Japan also envisioned global tectonics, which emphasizes magmatic force activated from the depths of the earth, through the discovery of the core and deep plutonic earthquakes (Ogawa 1929). Although since Ogawa was a critic of Wegener, he dropped out of the history of plate tectonics theory, it can be reevaluated from the viewpoint of the hotspot theory and mantle plume tectonics, and it is necessary to place him in the history of geoscientific thought.
Rudwick, M., Bursting the Limits of Time: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Revolution, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Yamada, T., The Transformation of ‘Geocosmos’: Earth Theory from Descartes to Leibniz, Tokyo: Keiso Shobo, 2017 [Jp].
Ogawa, T., New Interpretation of Geological Phenomena, Kokon Shoin, 1929 [Jp].
This presentation is an attempt to review the concept of Plutonism from the perspective of a genealogy of scientific thought over a rather long span of time.
The idea of fire pools under the earth, especially the central fire, along with underground water reservoirs, is thought to have existed since ancient times, but during the Scientific Revolution, it began to be clearly iconographed as an explanatory device for earth theory. For example, Athanasius Kircher depicted the concept of a "central force" in which a central fire forms a network of rocks in the Earth's body and is linked to volcanic activity on the Earth's surface (Yamada 2017). As long as exploration of deep underground areas did not produce useful data, this kind of imagination was regarded as nothing more than contemplation, but in the first half of the 20th century, when the reality of the internal structure was revealed mainly through seismic analysis, a phenomenon that could be called the revival of "Plutonism" began to be seen.
A well-known hypothesis is Arthur Holmes' convection theory, which apparently presupposes the existence of a hot core of the earth. Takuji Ogawa (1870-1941) of Japan also envisioned global tectonics, which emphasizes magmatic force activated from the depths of the earth, through the discovery of the core and deep plutonic earthquakes (Ogawa 1929). Although since Ogawa was a critic of Wegener, he dropped out of the history of plate tectonics theory, it can be reevaluated from the viewpoint of the hotspot theory and mantle plume tectonics, and it is necessary to place him in the history of geoscientific thought.
Rudwick, M., Bursting the Limits of Time: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Revolution, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Yamada, T., The Transformation of ‘Geocosmos’: Earth Theory from Descartes to Leibniz, Tokyo: Keiso Shobo, 2017 [Jp].
Ogawa, T., New Interpretation of Geological Phenomena, Kokon Shoin, 1929 [Jp].