Anton Lazzaro Moro (1687 in San Vito al Tagliamento – 1764) was an Italian abbot, geologist and naturalist. He was one of the leading advocates of

plutonism Plutonism is the geology, geologic theory that the igneous rocks forming the Earth originated from intrusive Magma, magmatic activity, with a continuing gradual process of weathering and erosion wearing away rocks, which were then deposited on t ...

in the early debate that confronted plutonism to

neptunism Neptunism is a superseded scientific theory of geology proposed by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) in the late 18th century, who proposed that rocks formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans. The theory took ...

, making him described by some authors as an ultraplutonist. He was the first to discriminate

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

s from

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

ones by studying the rocks of volcanic islands. In his study of the

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s, he discovered fossils petrified in mountains that led him to deduce those rocks were once buried in the sea.

Book

* 1740, ''De' crostacei e degli altri Marini corpi che si truovano su' monti''

References

External links

''De' Crostacei e Degli Altri Marini Corpi Che Si Trouvano su Monti''
- full digital facsimile at

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, on the grounds of a urban arboretum. It claims to be the "largest independently funded public library of sc ...

* 1687 births 1764 deaths 18th-century Italian geologists Italian abbots Italian naturalists People from San Vito al Tagliamento {{geologist-stub