Early Discoverers XXVI: Another Forgotten Pioneer of the Glacial theory James Hutton (1726–97)

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Author: Davies, Gordon L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1968
• Subjects: Earth-Surface Processes; Jura; Mont Blanc; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000020451; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000020451

The problem of erratic boulders lying far from their place of origin attracted considerable attention during the closing decades of the eighteenth century. More especially, interest focused upon the blocks of Mont Blanc granite resting on the flanks of the Jura. Various fanciful explanations, ranging from debacles to gigantic explosions, were offered to account for such phenomena (some of the early explanations have been reviewed by Agassiz (1840) and North (1943)) but the true explanation long eluded even the most astute observers. It was not that there was a failure to appreciate the transportive power of glaciers—de Saussure (1786–96, Vol. 2, p. 21) and others recognized the ability of glaciers to move large boulders—but a failure to recognize that glaciers had recently extended far beyond their present limits.