Why did people assume that strata were deposited over eons and represent different ages? Many of these layers can be viewed in the Grand Canyon, and there is a notable lack of erosion between them. As I see it, these paraconformities are a strong evidence that there were not large gaps of time between the strata - they must have been laid down rapidly over a relatively short period (e.g. by a great flood).
As much as I like poetry, why do we attribute to a poet that which we owe to a most observant and introspective canal digger who felt free to question dogma and received wisdom?
We don’t. The article explains and credits the scientific research that the poet is referring to. And to answer your question a second way: because that research came decades earlier than Smith’s work.
Slightly OT, but Cowper street in Palo Alto is named after William Cowper. So a fun shibboleth (and as OP points out) is that the name is pronounced KOO-per.
Why did people assume that strata were deposited over eons and represent different ages? Many of these layers can be viewed in the Grand Canyon, and there is a notable lack of erosion between them. As I see it, these paraconformities are a strong evidence that there were not large gaps of time between the strata - they must have been laid down rapidly over a relatively short period (e.g. by a great flood).
You could start with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratigraphy and go from there.
For the upper bound: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clair_Cameron_Patterson#Measur...
TalkOrigins.org has many detailed rebuttals to creationist lies. This one hybridizes two topics, or maybe it’s a garbled version of CD210.
Grand Canyon: https://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CH/CH581.html https://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/icr-science.html https://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CD/CD210.html
Erosion: https://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CD/CD610.html https://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CD/CD620.html
As much as I like poetry, why do we attribute to a poet that which we owe to a most observant and introspective canal digger who felt free to question dogma and received wisdom?
William Smith deserves so much of our respect. Cf, e.g., https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Map_that_Changed_the_Wor..., which summarizes the most excellent book.
We don’t. The article explains and credits the scientific research that the poet is referring to. And to answer your question a second way: because that research came decades earlier than Smith’s work.
Slightly OT, but Cowper street in Palo Alto is named after William Cowper. So a fun shibboleth (and as OP points out) is that the name is pronounced KOO-per.