Week 5 - Converging Plates - Andes Mountains

Converging plate occur when one plate begins to go under another plate. It can be oceanic and continental plates, oceanic and oceanic plates, or continental and continental plates that come together with one going under the other. Whenever oceanic crust meets continental crust the oceanic crust goes below the continental crust since the oceanic crust is more dense.

This week I choose to look at the Andes Mountains. This mountain range was formed by the ocean crust that is called the Nazca Plate going under South America. As it did it pushed the higher layer crust together to form the mountains. Interestingly enough, while the mountains were formed millions of years ago, much of the rock in this area is hundreds of millions of years old.

Sources

http://learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=317
http://mountain.org/andes-mountains/
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andes-Mountains
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Plate#/media/File:NazcaPlate.png