Final answer:
Cuvier's concept of catastrophism proposed that major natural disasters were the primary force behind the changes in Earth's geology and the history of life, causing mass extinctions and shaping the fossil record.
Step-by-step explanation:
Advocates of catastrophism, such as Georges Cuvier, believed that significant changes in the earth's crust and the history of life on Earth were the results of sudden, short-lived, and violent events rather than the product of gradual evolutionary processes. This perspective on earth's history and the development of life was developed to explain the pattern of fossils, which sometimes included species that were no longer in existence.
According to Cuvier, after these catastrophic events occurred, either new animals were created, or the affected areas were repopulated by animals from neighboring regions. Over time, the acceptance of catastrophism has diminished, with the scientific community largely endorsing the theories of gradualism and uniformitarianism, which argue that geological and biological changes occur over long periods of time through persistent and universal processes. As our understanding of the history of life on Earth has evolved, it is acknowledged that while major catastrophes like asteroid impacts have had significant effects, they are part of a broader tapestry of evolutionary mechanisms that also includes natural selection, as proposed by Charles Darwin.