The Andes Mountains
After the pilot was done giving us instructions on how to settle
in the helicopter, we were set and ready to go.
Once the helicopter took off it seemed like only a few moments before we
were able to reach our destination. The Andes
Mountains spanning through seven South American countries is 4,300 miles long
and has an average height of about 13,000 feet, was an amazing site to
see. Who would have thought that this
was all created by the compressive stress of the Nazca Oceanic Plate as it is subducted
under the South American Continental Plate.
It was easy to see all the andesite and diorite rocks since both are
very common above subduction areas. Both
of these volcanic rock types have a similar composition to basalt and granite
due to the melting of the basaltic ocean plate.
The Andes are known for being fold mountains since the plates had been pushed
together. As the plates collided and the
land came together it caused folding to occur where landmass is pushed forming
entire mountain ranges. We also noticed
the reverse faults of the Andes Mountains that were caused due to the
compression of plates. A reverse fault
happens when crust of one block slides on top of the other, these are common to
compression zones. I will never forget such an incredible trip to the Andes
Mountains it was definitely worth the long flight to get there.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes
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