Adventures in the Andes

My next destination was at the longest continental range in the world: The Andes Mountains. Located along the western coast of South America, the mountains heralded a long plane flight and a treacherous journey through the jungles of South America. Finally, I was able to marvel at the spectacular Andes mountains formed from the convergent subduction boundary with the more dense Nazca Plate from the ocean subducting beneath the less dense South American Plate.












A convergent subduction boundary occurs when a mobile oceanic plate plunges beneath another immobile plate. The boundary between the two plates is the convergent subduction boundary. When these two plates
converge, a characteristic deep-sea trench forms. Along this trench, a chain of volcanic islands form, or in this case, a chain of volcanoes like the Andes Mountains.





During my journey I witnessed several strange and exotic animals native to the Andes such as the Cock-of-the-Rock. The Andes is home to many other exotic wildlife, but before I had a chance to view them all we were approaching the top of the Andes, whereupon we decided to call it a day and travel to our next destination.



All images from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes