How did Frank B. Taylor use continental collision to explain mountain building?

In 1908, American geologist Frank B. Taylor proposed a hypothesis regarding mountain formation that predated modern plate tectonics. Contrary to the idea that mountains were formed solely by the vertical cooling and contraction of the Earth, Taylor suggested that the arcuate, or bow-shaped, mountain belts found across Asia and Europe were the result of the lateral movement of continents.1

Specifically, Taylor postulated that these massive landmasses underwent a slow creep toward the Equator. He argued that as these continents moved, their leading edges collided and buckled, creating the folded mountain ranges observed today. While his mechanism differed from the modern understanding of convergent margins—where subduction and the collision of large continents drive orogeny—his focus on the horizontal movement and collision of continental crust significantly foreshadowed contemporary scientific thought on tectonic processes.12