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The South American plate is a major tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America as well as a sizable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the African plate, with which it forms the southern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Rank Country or Region Highest point Elevation 1 Argentina Aconcagua [1]: 6,962 m (22,841 ft) 4 Bolivia Nevado Sajama [2]: 6,542 m (21,463 ft) 8 Brazil Pico da Neblina [3]
The Andes range has many active volcanoes distributed in four volcanic zones separated by areas of inactivity. The Andean volcanism is a result of the subduction of the Nazca Plate and Antarctic Plate underneath the South American Plate. The belt is subdivided into four main volcanic zones that are separated from each other by volcanic gaps.
The oceanic Nazca plate subducts beneath the continental South American plate at the Peru–Chile Trench. Just north of the Nazca plate, the oceanic Cocos plate subducts under the Caribbean plate and forms the Middle America Trench. Oceanic crust of the South American plate subducts under the Caribbean plate in the Lesser Antilles subduction zone.
Map showing Earth's principal tectonic plates and their boundaries in detail. These plates comprise the bulk of the continents and the Pacific Ocean.For purposes of this list, a major plate is any plate with an area greater than 20 million km 2 (7.7 million sq mi)
The Andes range consist of hundreds of mountain peaks. The world's longest above-water mountain range is the Andes, [1] about 7,000 km (4,300 mi) long. The range stretches from north to south through seven countries in South America, along the west coast of the continent: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.
Aconcagua is the highest mountain peak in South America. The Altiplano Plate and the North Andes Plate, both of which share geological processes with the South American continent, have their own highest mountain peaks: [11] South America – Aconcagua (6,961 m or 22,838 ft) Altiplano Plate – presumably Nevado Sajama (6,542 m or 21,463 ft)
The geography of South America contains many diverse regions and climates. Geographically, South America is generally considered a continent forming the southern portion of the landmass of the Americas, south and east of the Colombia–Panama border by most authorities, or south and east of the Panama Canal by some.