The Andes were formed by tectonic activity whereby earth is uplifted as one plate (oceanic crust) subducts under another plate (continental crust).
What are the features of the Andes Mountains?
The Andes Mountains have a very high snow line in Peru and northern Chile reaching an altitude of over 19,000 feet. The Andes Mountains are the longest stretch of mountains in the world. They stretch for 4,500 miles on the west coast of South America. It is one of the highest mountain ranges in the world.
Where were the Andes mountains formed?
The Andes are the result of tectonic plate processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American Plate. It is the result of a convergent plate boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate.
How does Andes Himalayas formed?
The highest mountain range on our planet — the Himalayas — was formed by the massive collision of two continental plates. But the Andes were formed where an oceanic plate slides beneath a continent.
What type of plate boundary is the Andes Mountains?
convergent boundary
The Andes Mountains were formed at a convergent boundary between an oceanic plate and a continental plate. The Andes are the longest continental mountain range in South America and the world, and they form a continous ridge along the western edge of South America.
Are Andes mountains volcanic or volcanic?
The landscape in the central Andes Mountains, near the border between Chile and Argentina, is dominated by volcanoes and associated landforms. Layers of older sedimentary rocks are visible to the upper middle, and many volcanic cones show grooves where water has eroded the rock to form gullies.
What are 3 facts about the Andes mountains?
Andes Mountains: Facts & Related Content
The summit of Mount Chimborazo in the Andes is the planet’s tallest point when measured from the Earth’s center. The Andes are the longest mountain chain in the world. Potatoes and tomatoes originated in the Andes.
What two plates collided to form the Andes Mountains?
The Andes were formed when the Nazca plate collided with the South American plate. The Rocky Mountains or Rockies: The Rocky Mountains are located in North America, along the west of the continent.
How have the Andes mountains formed quizlet?
the Andes were formed from a plate that is subducting at a steep angle compared to the subduction zone that formed the Rocky Mountains.
What type of rock makes up the Andes Mountains?
The rocks run the gamut of sedimentary rocks, including: sandstones, siltstones, shales, limestones, and quartzites. Volumetrically and economically, Ordovician and Silurian shales and siltstones are probably the most important sequences (formed 500-440 million and 440-395 million years age, respectively).
When did the Andes mountains start to develop?
The prevailing view is that the Andes became a mountain range between ten to six million years ago when a huge volume of rock dropped off the base of Earth’s crust in response to over-thickening of the crust in this region.
What convergence formed the Andes Mountains?
The Andes Mountains are part of the Southern Cordillera formed from subduction zone volcanism at the convergent boundary of the Nazca plate and the South American plate.
How were the Andes mountains formed for kids?
The Andes are a result of plate tectonics processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American continental plate. This means that two tectonic plates pushed together and one had to lie above the other, disrupting the Earth’s surface. the Andes began to take their present form. 8.
What causes Andes volcanoes?
Andean volcanism occurs within the Andean Volcanic Arc (AVA), which is the product of subduction of the Nazca Plate and Antarctica Plates beneath the South America Plate.
Does Andes have earthquakes?
The Andes have had three of the largest earthquakes ever recorded: on the border between Colombia and Ecuador in 1906, as well as in Chile, in 1960 and again in 2010. When will one of these major earthquakes happen there again? It is impossible to say… But scientists can now identify the areas where it will occur.
Is the Andes mountains a desert?
The Atacama Desert (Spanish: Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains.
| Atacama Desert | |
|---|---|
| Borders | Central Andean dry puna, Chilean matorral, and Sechura Desert |
| Geography | |
| Area | 104,741 km2 (40,441 sq mi) |
| Country | Chile |
What is unique about the Andes?
The Andes are a haven of biodiversity
The ranges are home to an astronomical array of wildlife, including just under 600 different species of mammals, an equal number of reptile species, 400 species of fish, over 1,700 types of birds, more than 1,000 amphibians and way over 30,000 species of endemic plants.
What type of landform is the Andes mountains?
The Andes are a Mesozoic-era orogenic belt of mountains along the Pacific Ring of Fire. The mountain range is the result of plate tectonics processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American Plate.
What is special about the Andes?
The Andes is the longest mountain range in the world and boasts some of the highest peaks. The range is also known for its volcanoes, ruins of long-ago civilizations and the source of a malaria treatment.
What type of plate boundary created the Andes mountains quizlet?
The Andes Mountain Range of western South America is another example of a convergent boundary between an oceanic and continental plate.
What is the main cause of mountain formation?
The world’s tallest mountain ranges form when pieces of Earth’s crust—called plates—smash against each other in a process called plate tectonics, and buckle up like the hood of a car in a head-on collision.