Erich Haarmann (14 June 1882 – 17 April 1945) was a German geologist known for his tectonic theories. In a 1930 publication Haarmann wrote in detail about his oscillation theory to explain movements,

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

and relief in

Earth's crust Earth's crust is Earth's thin outer shell of rock, referring to less than 1% of Earth's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. The ...

. In Haarmanns oscillation theory "geotumors" came to protrude from Earth's surface as result of a drag force in space. These vertical movements resulted in radial forces with gave way to phenomenons like

mountain building Mountain formation refers to the geological processes that underlie the formation of mountains. These processes are associated with large-scale movements of the Earth's crust (tectonic plates). Folding, faulting, volcanic activity, igneous intr ...

. Gravitational sliding in the flanks of these bulges resulted in orogenic structures like the stacking o nappes.Hills, E.S. (1963). ''Elements of Structural Geology''. p. 346. His oscillation theory was "fixist": it opposed mobilism and

continental drift Continental drift is the hypothesis that the Earth's continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have "drifted" across the ocean bed. The idea of continental drift has been subsumed into the science of pla ...

. It was different other contemporary fixist theories that emphasized lateral compression of

geosyncline A geosyncline (originally called a geosynclinal) is an obsolete geological concept to explain orogens, which was developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the theory of plate tectonics was envisaged. Şengör (1982), p. 11 A geo ...

s between

craton A craton (, , or ; from grc-gre, κράτος "strength") is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere, which consists of Earth's two topmost layers, the crust and the uppermost mantle. Having often survived cycles of merging and ...

s. Haarmann's theory was almost universally rejected except in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

where geologists found that an approach focusing on vertical rather lateral movement was convenient to explain features of the

Russian Platform East European Platform or Russian Platform is a large and flat area covered by sediments in Eastern Europe spanning from the Ural Mountains to the Tornquist Zone and from the Peri-Caspian Basin to the Barents Sea. Over geological time the platfor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haarmann 1882 births 1945 deaths 20th-century German geologists Tectonicists Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin