The growth of other disciplines, such as geophysics, in the 20th century, led to the development of the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s, which has had a similar effect on the Earth sciences as the theory of evolution had on biology.
E o crecemento doutras disciplinas, como a xeofísica, no século XX, coa teoría da tectónica de placas, nos anos 60, que tivo un impacto sobre as ciencias da Terra similar á da teoría da evolución sobre a bioloxía.