Altiplano Basin

Altiplano Basin
Cuenca del Altiplano
Map showing the location of Altiplano Basin
Map showing the location of Altiplano Basin
DEM, showing the approximate area of the basin
Coordinates18°28′S 67°20′W / 18.467°S 67.333°W / -18.467; -67.333
EtymologyAltiplano
RegionCentral Andes
CountryBolivia
Peru
State(s)La Paz, Oruro, Potosí
Puno
CitiesLa Paz, Oruro, Potosí, Uyuni
Characteristics
On/OffshoreOnshore
BoundariesPasani Fault, Cordillera Occidental, Ayaviri Fault, Cordillera Oriental, Coniri Fault
Part ofIntramontane Andean basins
Area154,176 km2 (59,528 sq mi)
Hydrology
River(s)Desaguadero River
Lake(s)Titicaca, Poopó
Geology
Basin typePiggy-back
PlateSouth American
OrogenyAndean
AgeEarly Paleozoic-Holocene
StratigraphyStratigraphy

The Altiplano Basin (Spanish: Cuenca del Altiplano) is a sedimentary basin within the Andes in Bolivia and Peru. The basin is located on the Altiplano plateau between the Cordillera Occidental and the Cordillera Oriental. Over-all the basin has evolved through time in a context of horizontal shortening of Earth's crust.[1] The great thickness of the sediments accumulated in the basin is mostly the result of the erosion of Cordillera Oriental.[2]

  1. ^ Perez, Nicholas D.; Horton, Brian K. (2014). "Oligocene-Miocene deformational and depositional history of the Andean hinterland basin in the northern Altiplano plateau, southern Peru". Tectonics. 33 (9): 1819–1847. Bibcode:2014Tecto..33.1819P. doi:10.1002/2014TC003647. S2CID 128854175.
  2. ^ Herail, Gérard; Baby, Patrice; Soler, Pierre (1994). "El contacto Cordillera Oriental-Altiplano en Bolivia: Evolución tectónica, sedimentaria y geomorfológiaca durante el Mioceno" (PDF). 7° Congreso Geológico Chileno (in Spanish). Vol. Actas Volumen I. Concepción, Chile: Universidad de Concepción. pp. 62–66. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016.