This brief discussion of the development of the Geologic Time Scale begins with Nicolas Steno in 1669 whose ideas have become known as the principles of original horizontal deposition and superposition. Next are James Hutton in 1795 and Charles Lyell in the early 1800s who supported the principle of uniformitarianism. The work of William Smith and the principle of faunal succession is also noted. The site goes on to explain how and why the scale is divided as it is.
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