American Cordillera
The Cordillera continues on through the mountain ranges of Central America in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and becomes the Andes Mountains of South America. The Andes with their parallel chains and the island chains off the coast of Chile continue through Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile to the very tip of South America at Tierra del Fuego. The Cordillera continues along the Scotia Arc before reaching the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Chilean Central Valley
In northernmost Chile the central valley is made up of the Pampitas, a series of small flats dissected by deep valleys. Immediately south of the Pampitas, in Tarapacá Region and northern of Antofagasta Region, the Central Valley is known as Pampa del Tamarugal. Contrary to the Pampitas valleys descending from the Andes do not incise the plains but merge into the surface of Pampa del Tamarugal at a height of "c". 1500 m. The westernmost portion of Pampa del Tamarugal has a height of 600 m. This western part contain a series of raised areas called "pampas" and basins containing salt flats. Interconnecting basins are important corridors for communication and transport in northern Chile.