• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.488-501
• /
• 2000

'The Voyage of the Beagle' , one of the best record of scientific travels ever made, written by Charles Darwin (1809-82), the greatest naturalist ever born, is reviewed in the viewpoint of the Earth Sciences. Various observations and interpretations on the Earth Sciences are told in the Voyage. First of all, Darwin understood the geological time much more longer than accepted then as well as the geological phenomena and processes such as orogeny, uplifting, subsidence, erosion, and deposition. And he also provided a perfect interpretation on the formation of coral reefs and a good theory on the evolution of organisms. Reasonable paleoenvironmental reconstructions and interpretations based on the fossils were given in the Voyage. His observations on meteorological phenomena were from the dust composed of organisms collected on the 'Beagle' in the Atlantic Ocean, to the movement of air and extreme clear dry condition experienced on the crest of the Andes, and etc. He made several observations on the general oceanography such as the discoloration of the sea, the lights on the sea surface, conchoidal provinces noted on the Galapagos Archipelago, the trees and plants found in the remotely separated islands, and etc. However relatively scarce observation was carried out on astronomy probably due to his relatively much land travelling. Most of his interpretations and suggestions are accepted in this time.