Gradual Change over
Time:
The Temple of Jupiter Serapis at Puzzuoli, Naples, Italy
The 2,000-year-old Roman
temple was partially submerged after construction, and was
subsequently uplifted. The roughened area in the middle of each
column shows the effect of marine rock-boring clams (Lithodomus); the dividing line and the smooth
area at the bottom of each column shows how far it was buried in
sediment, thus avoiding the clams. Charles Lyell used this image
as the frontispiece for his Principles of
Geology to demonstrate
that ongoing geological processes can have significant effects
over long period of time.
