Neptunism

It is a theory which claims that all rocks are formed by sedimentation in water. Werner (1750-1817) from Germany is the father and leader of this theory. He believes that at the early period of earth, the earth’s surface is all submerged and covered by the primitive ocean and all rocks on the earth’s surface are formed by sedimentation and crystallization from the seawater. The first to sediment is granite, the next one is crystalline schist, and both are the most ancient strata with the largest amount on the earth, which is called “original strata”; and the strata sedimenting later are called “transitional strata”; the upper strata are the ones containing fossils; and the upmost strata are “alluviums” consisting of loose silt. The ones which sediment earlier are on the lower layers, and the ones which sediment later are on the upper layers; the later the upper and the ones sedimenting latest are at the upmost layers. Neptunism only stresses the sedimentation of water and doesn’t acknowledge the existence of igneous rocks.