Charles Lyell

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/charles-lyell

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Charles Lyell born?November 14, 1797
2. When did Charles Lyell die?February 22, 1875 (age 77)
3. Where was Charles Lyell born?Kinnordy, Angus, Scotland
4. Who was Charles Lyell?Charles Lyell was a Scottish geologist born in 1797 who studied the Earth’s history through careful observation and writing. He showed that the planet is much older than people used to think.
5. What is uniformitarianism?Uniformitarianism is the idea that the same natural forces—like water, wind, and volcanoes—have worked on Earth for a very long time. It means the present is a key to understanding the past.

Uniformitarianism: The geological doctrine asserting that the same natural laws and processes that operate now have operated throughout geological time, in the same, slow, gradual manner.
Catastrophism: The geological theory that Earth's features were shaped primarily by sudden, violent, and often unique catastrophic events rather than gradual processes.
Deep Time: The vast, almost incomprehensible timescale of Earth's geological history, measured in millions and billions of years.
Stratigraphy: The branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and their sequence, thickness, and composition to interpret Earth's history.