Opposing them were the Plutonists, who noted that volcanoes and earthquakes, among other enlivening agents, continually changed the face of the planet but clearly owed nothing to wayward seas. The Plutonists also raised awkward questions about where all the water went when it wasn’t in flood. If there was enough of it at times to cover the Alps, then where, pray, was it during times of tranquillity, such as now? Their belief was that the Earth was subject to profound internal forces as well as surface ones. However, they couldn’t convincingly explain how all those clam shells got up there.
