For my next job, I was sent to visit the site of Machu Picchu! After landing in Peru (and a long, bumpy drive up into the mountains), I reached the ruins. The icon of the Incan world, the ruins stand virtually untouched. They were incredible (how’d they fit the stones so perfectly without modern technology?), dark (artifacts from deadly rituals remain), mysterious (not much is known about the people who lived here. Did they die from smallpox from the Spanish conquistadors? Why weren’t there other cities discovered nearby? Why are they in such good condition?), and crowded (so many tourists visit each year, the site is suffering from environmental degradation).
Even though the real reason behind this trip was to learn of the history of the ruins, I couldn’t help being fascinated by the science of the Andes Mountains. The west side of South America is next to the Pacific plate, and the two plates form a Convergent Subduction boundary. Subduction boundaries are created when the oceanic plate slides under the less dense plate (in this case, a continental plate), and as the plate slides farther down, it melts because of the intense heat (and because it had water on it). This melted earth moves upward, creating volcanoes.
There are four main areas of volcanism along this chain, the North, Central, South, and Austral. The location I’m at is in the Central area of the range. All the mountains are just stunning, with ragged peaks that stretch all the way down the continent.
Fun Fact: since this is a subduction boundary, this range of mountains is also known to have quite a few earthquakes.
From the spine of South America,
Carly
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