"We now know gradualism doesn't work ~ tectonics work!"
Plate tectonics is a gradual process.
Then there are a couple of "fronts" ~ one in Utah, and the other in the Himalayas, that may well have changed elevation by up to 15,000 feet in ONE DAY.
Then there are the "hot spots" around the world, and the volcanos popped up over subduction zones.
Fast and hot ~ hardly "gradual".