RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES VOL. 9, ES1001, doi:10.2205/2007ES000217, 2007

Introduction

[2]  Only in 2004, reflecting on the future of geophysics and the essence of the future geoinformation science (geoinformatics), I realized that two epochs took place in the past evolution of Earth sciences, and the third epoch started developing since the end of the 20th century (tentatively, since 1995).

[3]  The first epoch of the Earth science evolution is the epoch of exploring the Earth's face (i.e. the structure of its surface). This epoch, which started from famous geographic discoveries and continued until the mid-19th century, should be called a geography epoch. It is in this epoch that geographic and geodetic sciences developed and geoinformation started it to be mapped cartographically.

[4]  The second epoch of the Earth science evolution is the epoch of exploring the structure and development of the near-surface part of the Earth's interior (to a depth of 10 km). This epoch, which started in the mid-19th century and continued almost until the end of the 20th century, can be called the epoch of geology, although a number of other sciences, namely, geophysics, geochemistry, mining, meteorology (physics of the atmosphere), and oceanology, formed in the 20th century. However, for a number of reasons, precisely the geology was a leading science of the Earth in the second epoch.

[5]  I am firmly convinced that the third epoch of the Earth science evolution started in the mid-1990s (tentatively, in 1995) and it should be called the epoch of geophysics and geoinformation science.

[6]  The main problem solved in this epoch is the exploring of the Earth as a whole: its structure down to the core, dynamic processes in the Earth's interiors, and its evolution during the last billion years. Moreover, in the third epoch the geoinformation science should be formed as an independent research branch, with its own subject of study and methods (this is discussed in detail below).

[7]  Two factors were of basic significance for the third epoch of Earth sciences: first, rapid development of computer technologies and, second, the creation of Earth science databases and information banks in the 1990s.

[8]  Because of volume limitations, this paper addresses only two topics: the essence of a new (developing) science, namely, geoinformatics, and the development of a basically new theory of interpretation of potential fields (gravity and magnetic anomalies).


RJES

Citation: Strakhov, V. N. (2007), Change of epochs in Earth sciences, Russ. J. Earth Sci., 9, ES1001, doi:10.2205/2007ES000217.

Copyright 2007 by the Russian Journal of Earth Sciences

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