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Tilting of the earth's axis or retarding its rotation via a celestial close encounter is Nature's way of saying "Game Over".

I can't believe all those sedimentary strata and twisted geological features resulted from the earth's environment always being calm and serene, and that the geological layers gently built up over the millions of years and that the mountains of today resulted only from plate tectonics.

The theory of Catastrophism was in vogue until Darwin came out with his Theory. In order for it to work, the earth couldn't have been trashed by outside events. My bet is that creatures evolved because their environment suddenly changed - they had no choice - and a very high percentage never made it.

The theory of Catastrophism was in vogue until Darwin came out with his Theory. In order for it to work, the earth couldn't have been trashed by outside events.

Well, I don't know but the timelines involved are so vast as to allow for more than one linear evoluntionary scale.

“My be is that creatures evolved because their environment suddenly changed”

I’m with you, although I think there is also room for more gradual transitions. Sudden and/or drastic: Yucatan meteor and Deccan trappes=dinosaur extinction; Permian, evidence of impact crater(s) possible, Siberian trappes for sure; significant die-offs as result of Chesapeake Meteor 50 mile diameter crater and larger in Siberia 34,000 years ago; I know there are other large boloid events, but have not yet compared their ages with extinction event. Then there is Firestone’s Cosmic Catastrophes proposal for the death of the megamammals about 13,000 years ago. Any major boloid or volcanic event could triger ice age type events, which would definitely cause a significant drop in sea levels which this article posits as cause rather than effect.

Slow and gradual: tectonic plate movement causing the closing off of open waterways could also affect ocean circulations which could cause more gradual changes in climate and fauna/flora, also the gradual pushing up of mountains (one source for twisted geological features) would change wind circulation and weather patterns. Subduction causes volcanos which if large enough or plentiful enough would changed environments. There are probably others, but it is time for my lunch, so goodby for now.

Blam: hope you are feeling better.