“Many distinguishing features of the surface may often be ascribed to the operation at a remote era of slow and tranquil causes-to the gradual deposition of sediment in a lake or in the ocean, or to the prolific increase of testacea and corals therein.”

—  Charles Lyell, book Principles of Geology

Chpt.1, p. 2
Principles of Geology (1832), Vol. 1

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Charles Lyell103
British lawyer and geologist 1797–1875

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