Dynamical processes in nature take place over a large range of time scales. In addition, subatomic particles decay over a time scale of billionths of a second. Some geological processes take millions of years. Physical science is full of examples of processes that play out over long periods – and short periods of frequency, too.
Geology has its roots in the Victorian era and the idea geological processes are extremely slow is deeply ingrained. However, since the dawn of the space age impact geology has allowed geological formations to occur very quickly – and catastrophically. Although cosmic impacts are now accepted as a fact of life many geologists cannot seem to accept some events take place rapidly – even abruptly.
This is a riposte by Tim Harris, who describes himself as a rocket scientist, upset by the failure of mainstream to seriously consider an impact event at the Younger Dryas boundary – see http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/a-letter-to-live-science/ … and it illustrates how difficult it is to breach consensus science or even gain a foothold at the beach head.