catastrophistes

Catastrophistes, or catastrophists, are proponents of catastrophism in geology and related sciences. They argued that the Earth's features result largely from sudden, brief, violent events—such as floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or other cataclysms—rather than from slow, continuous processes operating over long timescales.

Historically, catastrophism gained prominence in the 18th and early 19th centuries in competition with uniformitarianism. Notable figures include Giovanni Arduino, who proposed successive geologic ages punctuated by catastrophes, and Georges Cuvier, who linked the fossil record to species extinctions caused by catastrophic events and posited subsequent repopulation. Other contributors, including proponents of the diluvial theory like William Buckland, attributed major sedimentary layers to large-scale floods.

Catastrophists maintained that large-scale changes could occur in relatively short periods, explaining abrupt transitions in strata and the appearance of fossil assemblages that seemed incompatible with gradualism. Some adopted or adapted biblical frameworks, while others used the idea of multiple world cycles destroyed and renewed by catastrophes to account for geological observations.

With the rise of uniformitarian geology in the mid-19th century, led by James Hutton and, especially, Charles Lyell, catastrophism declined in influence and was superseded as the dominant paradigm. Nevertheless, catastrophic events have continued to be recognized as important in geological history, particularly for explaining mass extinctions, meteorite impacts, volcanic eruptions, and other rapid changes. In modern geology, catastrophe is regarded as one factor within an overall long and dynamic history of the Earth.