Page 38 - Super Earth Encyclopedia

TITANIC FORCES

ANDES MOUNTAIN RANGE

Nowhere on Earth are the titanic forces that Making mountains Dotted with volcanoes, the
Andes are one of the world’s
build mountains more evident than in the Andes. Part of the Pacific Ocean floor is moving highest and most spectacular
Extending the length of South America, this long northeast at about 2 in (5 cm) a year, mountain ranges.
chain of rugged peaks has been forced up by the forcing a slab of heavy oceanic crust beneath
South America. Meanwhile, the continent is
Pacific Ocean floor pushing beneath the edge moving westward at about 1.2 in (3 cm) a year.
of the continent. Buckled and fractured by the The pressure has created giant faults that act
like wedges driven beneath the central
relentless pressure, vast slabs of continental rock Andes, squeezing them upward.
have been thrust upward, while the process has
fueled the eruption of countless volcanoes.
The point where the
ocean floor plunges
beneath the continent is
marked by the deep
Peru-Chile Trench.
AT A GLANCE
Most of the Andes
range is being pushed
up by the Nazca Plate,
which forms the floor
of the southeastern
Pacific Ocean.

• LOCATION Western side of South America
• EXTENT 4,500 miles (7,200 km)
• AGE More than 25 million years old

• ORIGIN Oceanic-continental subduction

STATS AND FACTS

HIGHEST MOUNTAIN RISING PEAKS
The South American
Andes include the Aconcagua in The mountains
Argentina is the
have nearly
world’s highest highest Andean doubled their
mountains outside mountain at height in the last
Asia, and they form 22,838 ft (6,961 m). 10 million years.
the longest range of
mountains on any HIGH PLATEAU VOLCANOES
continent. They also
include the world’s The air in the With 183 active
Altiplano plateau
volcanoes, the
highest volcanoes. contains only half Andes is one of Ocean floor grinding The coastal block of the
as much oxygen as Earth’s most volcanic beneath the continent continent is being pushed
the air at sea level. mountain belts.
contains seawater that has eastward by the moving
seeped into the rock. slab of oceanic crust.

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