Influences on the pattern of research interest on early Earth history and the notion of Earth processes as a series of interacting systems
Availability of Isotopic dating as a routine geochronometric tool - 1960's on
Huge budget available for research on microbiology/origin of life from NASA race to the Moon which fostered a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of natural systems- 1960/70's
Moves away from crude reductionism, favoured by chemists, to more a integrated, systems approach to Earth processes and history - 1960's on
Plate tectonic paradigm develops from integrated Earth and Ocean science at the same time as Lovelock conceives the Gaia hypothesis of interacting Earth systems with the biosphere as focal to global evolution - 1970's on
Growing concerns about the scale of anthropogenic influence on global systems in terms of pollution and global warming - 1980's on
Growing tension between the interests of the globalised economy and politicians and the scientific fraternity about the reality and causes of global climatic changes - 1990's on
Increasing concern about the nature of evidence ("proof") for the causes of global change - 2000 on
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