New research by Dr Laura Evenstar has documented how the Andean Mountain chain in South America has uplifted through time.

The paper, written in collaboration with Prof. Adrian Hartley from the University of Aberdeen and Prof. Anne Mather from the University of Plymouth, unravels the roles of both tectonics and climate in forming the highest mountain chain in the world, after the Himalayas. Previous models for its uplift have been contradictory, ranging from long, slow uplift over the last 50 million years through to short, rapid uplift in the last 10 million years. This paper is the first study to utilise the datasets from all previous models and reconcile them onto a single unifying theory explaining the rise of the Andes.

Want to find out more? Just click here; Orogenic-orographic feedback and the rise of the Central Andes