Andes
The Andes or Andean Mountains () are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. This range is about long, about wide (widest between 18° south and 20° south latitude), and of an average height of about . The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
Geology of Chile
The subduction interactions shaped four main morphostructures of Chile: the Andes; the Intermediate Depression, the Coast Range, and the Peru–Chile Trench off the coast. Since Chile is on an active continental margin, it has a large number of volcanoes. Almost the entire country is subject to earthquakes arising from strains in the Nazca and Antarctic Plates or shallow strike-slip faults. Northern Chilean mineral resources are a major economic resources, and the country is the leading producer of copper, lithium and molybdenum. Most of these mineral deposits were created from magmatic hydrothermal activity. The water required to form those deposits derived from the subducted slab of the oceanic crust beneath the Andes.