The 1910 International Geological Congress
In 1910, the eleventh International Geological Congress was held in Stockholm. In addition to presenting his research on varves, De Geer presided over the congress. De Geer began his paper "A geochronology of the last 12000 years" by writing "Geology is the history of the earth, but hitherto it has been a history without years." At the congress De Geer formally introduced the term varve defining it as any annual sedimentary layer, and also proposed that the term geochronology be restricted to varve dating, other existing techniques being less accurate and precise.
By then, observations of the stratigraphic relationship between varved sediment and recessional moraines, and the correlation of varve sequences between geographically distant sites, added more compelling evidence to De Geer's essentially circumstantial speculation. The geological community accepted that it was unlikely that the couplets were unlikely to represent any period other than the year.
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