The Oscura Mountains to the north are separated from the San Andres Mountains by Mockingbird Gap and the much lower Little Burro Mountains. LiveScience - Andes: World's Longest Mountain Range, Maps of World - Andes Mountain, South America, Andes - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Andes - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). The highest active volcano in the Andean Mountains is the Ojos del Salado. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/where-are-the-andes-mountains.html The range extends about 75 miles (120 km) north to south, but are only about 12 miles (19 km) wide at their widest. The Andes have an average height of approximately 13,000 feet and they are about 4,300 miles long and between 120 miles to 430 miles wide. The Andean mountain system is the result of global plate-tectonic forces during the Cenozoic Era (roughly the past 65 million years) that built upon earlier geologic activity. The Southern and Central Andes and Patagonia. The Andes Mountains line the western edge of South America, from Venezuela all the way along Chile to South America's southern tip (about 9,000 …

[3] An area of 57,215 acres (231.54 km2) in the southern portion of the San Andres Mountain range was set aside in 1941 as the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge[4] to help preserve the desert bighorn sheep, which at the time numbered 33. Other significant peaks in the Andes include Pissis (22,293 feet), Mercedario (22,047 feet), Galan (19,396 feet), and Cerro Bonete (22,175 feet) among others. The Andean Mountains are divided into numerous ranges by depressions. Director, Institute of Andean Biology, National University of San Marcos, Lima. It is the highest mountain outside Asia. The range extends about 75 miles (120 km) north to south, but are only about 12 miles (19 km) wide at their widest. A brief introduction to the Andes Mountains and the Andean condor. There is no universal agreement about the major north-south subdivisions of the Andes system. The Andes Mountains is the mountainous spine which dramatically dissects South America in two from north to south, crossing seven countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Andes Mountains, also called the Andes, Spanish Cordillera de los Andes or Los Andes, mountain system of South America and one of the great natural features of the Earth. N ew Mexico is a complex mural with mountains and desert that dominant the landscape. Andes Mountains, also called the Andes, Spanish Cordillera de los Andes or Los Andes, mountain system of South America and one of the great natural features of the Earth. The highest peak in the San Andres Mountains is Salinas Peak, at 8,965 feet (2,733 m). The biggest and best desert bighorn sheep habitat in New Mexico is in the San Andres Mountains, which can host up to 400 bighorn. The Andes Mountains are on numerous high plateaus including the Altiplano plateau. Andes Mountains - Andes Mountains - The people: Human presence in the Andes is relatively recent; the oldest human remains to be found are only 10,000 to 12,000 years old, although habitation probably dates to much earlier times. The Andes contain the highest peaks in the Western Hemisphere. However, through the use of more advanced techniques, researchers in the early 21st century were able to determine that the uplift started much earlier, about 25 million years ago. Lima, Peru is the biggest city of all the Andean states. Cinchona pubescens is widely found on the Andean Mountains. Coauthor of. The Andes Mountains are on the western parts of South America. [1] Gypsum deposits washed from these mountains are the main source of the dunes in White Sands National Park. The Andes has over thirty thousand vascular plant species, and half of them are endemic to the Andes Mountains.

The highest peak in the San Andres Mountains is Salinas Peak, at 8,965 feet (2,733 m). The average height of Andes Mountains is approximately 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). There are approximately seventy-three ranges, from Animas to Zuni. [3] Subsequent years brought further declines from scabies and other causes until the population consisted of one ewe in 1997. The Aconcagua is the highest peak in the Andes ranges and also in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The continent’s most magnificent natural attraction stretches for over 7,500km – from Venezuela all the way to Patagonia – and has spawned, in one way or another, the … The tectonic processes that created the Andes have continued to the present day. The San Andres Mountains are comparatively dry and do not support any extensive woodlands. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is the farthest point from the center of the Earth. The highest Crater Lake in the world is found on the Ojos del Salado, and it has a diameter of about 330 feet. The 22,837-foot high summit is in Mendoza Province, Argentina. By Geoffrey Migiro on March 20 2019 in World Facts. They separate a narrow western coastal area from the rest of the continent, affecting deeply the conditions of life within the ranges themselves and in surrounding areas. The Andes are grouped into three groups (Wet Andes, Dry Andes, and Tropical Andes) based on climate. The resultant mountain system exhibits an extraordinary vertical differential of more than 40,000 feet between the bottom of the Peru-Chile (Atacama) Trench off the Pacific coast of the continent and the peaks of the high mountains within a horizontal distance of less than 200 miles. It perhaps is more reasonable to ascribe it to the anta of the older Aymara language, which connotes copper colour generally. The San Andres Mountains form part of the eastern edge of the rift valley of the Rio Grande, and are made up of west-dipping fault blocks made primarily of San Andres Formation limestone, but also with extensive exposures of reddish Abo Formation sandstone on the western side, and quartz monzonite on the eastern side.

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The Northern Andes and the Orinoco River basin and its drainage network. Researcher’s Note: Height of Mount Aconcagua. The Altiplano plateau is the second highest plateau in the world that is in Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. Aconcagua is bounded by Valle de los Horcones inferior to the southern and western side and the Valle de las Vacas to the east and north. They began as sediments eroded from the Amazonia craton (or Brazilian shield)—the ancient granitic continental fragment that constitutes much of Brazil—and deposited between about 450 and 250 million years ago on the craton’s western flank. Some historians believe the name Andes comes from the Quechuan word anti (“east”); others suggest it is derived from the Quechuan anta (“copper”). Though nearly contiguous with the Organ Mountains to the south, the two are very distinct geologically and botanically. The Andes are not a single line of formidable peaks but rather a succession of parallel and transverse mountain ranges, or cordilleras, and of intervening plateaus and depressions. The subsequent breakup of Pangaea and of its southern portion, Gondwana, dispersed these plates outward, where they began to take the form and position of the present-day continents. About 250 million years ago the crustal plates constituting the Earth’s landmass were joined together into the supercontinent Pangaea. These mountain ranges extend through seven states including Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia. What Animals Live In The Andes Mountains? These ranges are split into three sections: the Northern Andes, Central Andes, and the Southern Andes. The San Andres Mountains are a mountain range in the southwestern U.S. state of New Mexico, in the counties of Socorro, Sierra, and Doña Ana. The Southern and Central Andes and Patagonia. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Central and Northern Andes and the Amazon River basin and drainage network. Aconcagua has numerous glaciers with the biggest being the 6 mile-long Ventisquero Horcone Inferior that descends to 11,800 feet from the southern face of the peak. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. The weight of these deposits forced a subsidence (downwarping) of the crust, and the resulting pressure and heat metamorphosed the deposits into more resistant rocks; thus, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone were transformed, respectively, into quartzite, shale, and marble. The high altitude woodlands and polylepis forests are in the Andean region of Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador.

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. The directional trend of both the cordilleras generally is north-south, but in several places the Cordillera Oriental bulges eastward to form either isolated peninsula-like ranges or such high intermontane plateau regions as the Altiplano (Spanish: “High Plateau”), occupying adjoining parts of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. Approximately 170 million years ago this complex geologic matrix began to be uplifted as the eastern edge of the Nazca Plate was forced under the western edge of the South American Plate (i.e., the Nazca Plate was subducted), the result of the latter plate’s westward movement in response to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The intensity of this activity increased during the Cenozoic Era, and the present shape of the cordilleras emerged. There are about 400 fish species, 600 mammal species, 600 reptile species, and 1,700 bird species, including four species of mountain toucan. The Andes Mountains are the longest mountain range on earth that form a continuous highland on the westernmost part of South America.

Where Do The Rocky Mountains Start And End? From south to north these are the Southern Andes, consisting of the Chilean, Fuegian, and Patagonian cordilleras; the Central Andes, including the Peruvian cordilleras; and the Northern Andes, encompassing the Ecuadorian, Colombian, and Venezuelan (or Caribbean) cordilleras. With about 1,000 species, the Andes Mountains are the most crucial areas on earth for amphibians. The Andes are the highest mountain range in the world situated outside Asia. Distinct eastern and western ranges—respectively named the Cordillera Oriental and the Cordillera Occidental—are characteristic of most of the system. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. They are mostly closed to the public, lying almost entirely within the restricted White Sands Missile Range. What Indonesian city was originally named Batavia? Ojos del Salado is on the Chilean-Argentina border and about 370 miles north of Mount Aconcagua.

The Andean mountains cut through numerous floristic and natural areas due to its extension through seven countries. Over two-thirds of all the animal species in the Andes are endemic to the regions.

The collision (or convergence) of two of these plates—the continental South American Plate and the oceanic Nazca Plate—gave rise to the orogenic (mountain-building) activity that produced the Andes. Ojos del Salado is the second highest peak in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres at 22,615 feet. For the purposes of this discussion, the system is divided into three broad categories. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The Andes consist of a vast series of extremely high plateaus surmounted by even higher peaks that form an unbroken rampart over a distance of some 5,500 miles (8,900 kilometres)—from the southern tip of South America to the continent’s northernmost coast on the Caribbean. Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn! [5], Black and Bennett Mts. The Altiplano plateau hosts various major South American cities like La Paz, Merida, Sucre, Medellin, Arequipa, Bogota, and Quito. The highest elevation in the Andes is Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, which is 6,961 meters (22,838 feet) above sea level. The system—part of the larger circum-Pacific volcanic chain that often is called the Ring of Fire—remains volcanically active and is subject to devastating earthquakes. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2020 worldatlas.com.