The ‘forbidden theory of mountain uplift’ of Charles Taylor Trechmann (1884–1964): a tectonic theory of the 1950s in context

Abstract

C.A. Matley (1866–1947) recognised a Precambrian or Palaeozoic Basal Complex under Jamaica and the Caribbean, analogous to the Mona Complex he had mapped in northwest Wales. However, the existence of a Basal Complex in Jamaica remains unproven and unlikely. The principal opponent to the Basal Complex hypothesis was the only other major expert on the geology of Jamaica at this time, the independently wealthy amateur C.T. Trechmann (1884–1964). Subsequent to his debate with Matley, Trechmann changed the subject of his Caribbean research from stratigraphy and mollusc systematics to tectonics, and the formulation of his Theory of Mountain Uplift in competition with Matley's Basal Complex. Trechmann's theory suggested that uplift of mountains was the product of lunar attraction, reinforced by pressure produced by deep columns of ocean water which also induced metamorphic changes at relatively shallow crustal depths. Unfortunately, Matley died after the appearance of the first of four privately published monographs on mountain uplift, depriving Trechmann of the target audience for his theory. The Theory of Mountain Uplift was widely ignored at a time when the status of the amateur in geology was waning and Trechmann lacked disciples to spread his ideas. His was the last parochial theory of Antillean tectonics and is remembered for its errors, as seen from a present where plate tectonics provide the framework for all geology, rather than its adherence to the fixist research programmes of the first half of the 20th Century. Trechmann's theory was not just wrong, but it was wrong at the wrong time. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Chapter 20 Opposition to continental drift and the origin of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

“…Viewed from the plate tectonic age, his proposals seem incredible, although credit is due for his recognition of cross-Pacific correlations that today are more understandable than they ever could have been under Wegener's proposals. Prior to the common acceptance of plate tectonics, there were many tectonic theories, many far more bizarre than Gregory's, each with its particular strengths and fatal weaknesses (Donovan 2008).…”