What is Uniformitarianism?

Genesis

Uniformitarianism is quite a complicated word but its definition is easy to understand: “The present is the key to the past.”  This means that the geological and natural processes observed today on Earth occur at the same rate as it did in the past.  For example, sediment that is transported by river waters into the oceans has always been transported at the same rate of speed.  This concept is held by evolutionary scientists, and it allows for the Earth to be millions of years old.  Uniformitarianism is supported by gradualism, but goes against the theory of punctuated equilibrium.  (For information about those two terms, please visit this website.)  The uniformitarian view denies the catastrophic flood.