- Scottish geologist, one of the founders
of experimental geology. He provided evidence in support of the theories
of Scottish naturalist James Hutton regarding the formation of the Earth's
crust.
Hall was born in Berwickshire (Borders region) and spent much of the
1780s travelling in Europe. He undertook extensive geological observations
in the Alps and studying Mount Etna in Sicily. He was also won over
to the new chemistry of Antoine Lavoisier.
Hall set out to prove his friend Hutton's 'Plutonist' geological theories
(the view that heat rather than water was the chief rock-building agent
and shaper of the Earth's crust). By means of furnace experiments, he
showed with fair success that Hutton had been correct to maintain that
igneous rocks would generate crystalline structures if cooled very slowly.
Hall also demonstrated that there was a degree of interconvertibility
between basaltine and granitic rocks; and that, even though subjected
to immense heat, limestone would not decompose if sustained under suitable
pressure.
|