Here's why:
* Uniformitarianism states that the geological processes that occur today are the same processes that occurred in the past.
* By observing how a modern river erodes, transports, and deposits sediment, geologists can infer how similar processes shaped ancient rock layers.
* For example, observing how a river creates layers of sediment in a delta can help us understand how similar layers were formed in the past, even though they might be millions of years old.
Essentially, uniformitarianism allows us to use present-day observations to understand the past, making it a fundamental principle in geology.
