What is Plutonism?
'''Plutonism''' (or '''Vulcanism''') is the [[theory]] that the rocks forming the Earth were formed in fire by [[volcano|volcanic activity]]. It was named after [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]], the [[classical mythology|classical]] ruler of the [[Greek underworld|underworld]], or alternatively after [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]], the ancient Roman god of fire and volcanoes. The theory was first proposed by Abbé Anton Moro who had studied volcanic islands. It was subsequently developed by [[James Hutton]] as part of his ''Theory of the Earth'' published in 1788. The Plutonists strongly disputed the [[Neptunism|Neptunist]] view that rocks had been formed by processes that no longer operated, instead supporting Hutton's [[uniformitarianism]]. {{-}} {{sci-stub}} [[Category:Geology]] [[Category:History of science]]