MOUNTAIN-BUILDING

Things in nature, animals, trees, mountains, etc., all have been built according to a plan - a Bauplan. Students of tectonics study mountain s to reconstruct their Bauplan. What are the indispensable elements of a mountain? How are they arranged? How long does it take before a mou ntain is built? We have had some deep-seated prejudices on the time an d place of orogenesis, and our misconceptions have hindered our unders tanding for more than a century. This article is a confession by a rep entant student who was misled for the best-part of his professional ca reer, I think that I am on the right path now but I may or may not hav e corrected all my mistaken notions.