American Cordillera

The American Cordillera is the continuous mountain system along the western edge of North and South America, extending from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. It includes the continent’s major western ranges and high plateaus.

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Rocky Mountains: A major mountain range extending from western Canada into the southwestern United States. They form a major northern component of the cordillera.
Plate tectonics: The theory that Earth’s outer shell consists of moving plates whose interactions shape the planet’s surface. The system’s long-term formation follows movements of the American plates and their neighbors.
Rain shadow: A dry region on the sheltered side of a mountain range, where descending air has lost much of its moisture. Cordillera ranges create sharp precipitation contrasts between their windward and leeward sides.
Appalachian Mountains: An old, eroded mountain system extending through eastern North America. Their eastern location and older relief contrast with the western cordillera.
Andes: A mountain range running along the western edge of South America. They form the cordillera’s longest and highest southern section.
Subduction: The process in which one tectonic plate sinks beneath another into Earth’s mantle. Oceanic plate subduction beneath the Americas has built many western mountain belts.
Glacier: A persistent body of flowing ice formed from accumulated and compacted snow. Cordillera glaciers store freshwater and feed rivers across several climates.
Himalayas: A high mountain range in Asia formed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates. They offer a collision-built comparison to much of the cordillera’s subduction-related terrain.
Alaska Range: A mountain range in southern Alaska that includes Denali, North America’s highest peak. It anchors the cordillera’s northern reach.
Andean orogeny: The prolonged mountain-building process that formed the Andes through tectonic deformation along South America’s western margin. It illustrates how subduction can raise and deform a major cordillera segment.