Many of our mountains have been formed either through tectonic plate movement or by volcano. This development has taken millions of years and the process is still ongoing for most of them. The Andes mountain formation has undergone the same way, and scientists are looking at a section of its development might be cause for concern.
Part of the Andes mountain formation has been driven by magma. This is true for the Altiplano-Puna Plateau which can be found in the Central Andes. This part is shared by Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. The plateau is a large plain that has volcanoes on it.
The Atliplano-Puna Plateau is still undergoing transformation, as the region is slowly experiencing an uplift. That means the region is steadily rising. Analysis of this development is leading scientists to conclude that a large magma deposit is causing this uplift.
The Altiplano-Puna Plateau is the world's second highest continental plateau. It is around 1 kilometer high and spreads in a wide area. A dome is slowly forming beneath it as magma is slowly pushing it upward, raising the plateau even higher.
Noah Finnegan is the lead author of the study and is an Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California Santa Cruz. He explained that the dome being formed is the response of the Earth as the magma is pushing up to its surface. The dome that is being formed is one-fifth of the height of the Andes, Jonathan Perkins of the U.S. Geological Survey said. He led the study as a student of University of California Santa Cruz.
The magma is being sent to the surface because of the subduction zone where the Nazca Plate is going under the South American plate, the University of California Santa Cruz Newscenter explains on its site. The researchers used seismic imaging in order to see the extent of the magma. What they found is a magma deposit seven miles thick and 25 miles in diameter.
Perkins said that it is still not exactly certain what is causing the magma to drive to the surface, but so far he has ruled out that it could be a supervolcano. A supervolcano causing it could be disastrous, as such volcanoes have changed much of history in the past. Perkins did say that what is happening now is part of the process by which continents are formed, as Science Daily reports.
What is clear is that the Andes mountain formation is still an ongoing process. This shows that the Earth is dynamic and that much of its surface is still going through the process of change. In an earlier report, the Himalayan arc is also prone to earthquakes.
