<P> Catastrophism was the theory that the Earth had largely been shaped by sudden, short - lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope . This was in contrast to uniformitarianism (sometimes described as gradualism), in which slow incremental changes, such as erosion, created all the Earth's geological features . Uniformitarianism held that the present was the key to the past, and that all geological processes (such as erosion) throughout the past were like those that can be observed now . Since the early disputes, a more inclusive and integrated view of geologic events has developed, in which the scientific consensus accepts that there were some catastrophic events in the geologic past, but these were explicable as extreme examples of natural processes which can occur . </P> <P> Catastrophism held that geological epochs had ended with violent and sudden natural catastrophes such as great floods and the rapid formation of major mountain chains . Plants and animals living in the parts of the world where such events occurred were made extinct, being replaced abruptly by the new forms whose fossils defined the geological strata . Some catastrophists attempted to relate at least one such change to the Biblical account of Noah's flood . </P>

How did the theory of uniformitarianism account for patterns seen in geology
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