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Volume 565 Issue 7740, 24 January 2019

The rise of the Andes

The extensive chain of mountains that makes up the Andes was formed as the result of the Nazca tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean being driven against and below continental South America. In this week’s issue, Yi-Wei Chen and his colleagues use a seismic tomography model to reconstruct the history of subduction along this margin, offering a fresh perspective on the link between mountain formation and plate subduction. The researchers find that current phase of Nazca subduction began in the northern Andes around 80 million years ago and propagated southwards, reaching the southern Andes around 55 million years ago. This suggests that, contrary to popular belief, Nazca subduction was not a continuous process but has instead occurred in episodic phases. They also find that the start of the compression that formed the Andes was linked to interaction between the Nazca slab and the lower mantle, which is consistent with some earlier models.

Cover image: Marcos Furer

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