Editing Andes (section)

=== Climate ===
The Andes Mountains is connected connection to the climate of South America, particularly through the hyper-arid conditions of the adjacent Atacama Desert. The Atacama Bench, a prominent low-relief feature along the Pacific seaboard, serves as a key geomorphological record of the long-term interplay between Andean tectonics and Cenozoic climate. While the initial uplift and shortening of the Andes were driven by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate, arid climate acted as an important feedback mechanism. Reduced erosion rates in the increasingly arid Atacama region may have effectively stopped tectonic activity in certain parts of the mountain range. This lack of erosion could have facilitated the eastward propagation of deformation, leading to the widening of the Andean orogen over time. Thus, the Atacama Desert and its geological features, like the Atacama Bench, offer critical insights into the coupled evolution of the Andes Mountains and the changing regional climate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Armijo |first1=Rolando |last2=Lacassin |first2=Robin |last3=Coudurier-Curveur |first3=Aurélie |last4=Carrizo |first4=Daniel |date=2015-04-01 |title=Coupled tectonic evolution of Andean orogeny and global climate |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012825215000148 |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |volume=143 |pages=1–35 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.01.005 |bibcode=2015ESRv..143....1A |issn=0012-8252}}</ref>