Abstract
The science of sedimentology was revolutionized in 1948, when the concept of turbidity-current transport and deposition was introduced by Kuenen and Migliorini(1950). Turbidity currents, which are not observable in nature, are supposedly generated by submarine slides of catastrophic proportion. Such a postulate was a radical departure from the uniformitarianism of geology preached by Charles Lyell, who stated that processes operating in the past are those observable in the present, with the same energy or intensity. Therefore, the new concept was controversial in the 1950s, when I was a young sedimentologist working for the oil industry. The controversy was not only aired at professional meetings, but also during coffee breaks and cocktail hours.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hsü, K.J. (1989). Sediments are Moved. In: Physical Principles of Sedimentology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02584-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02584-0_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-51268-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-02584-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive