Question
How much taller do the Andes Mountains get each year?
I remember taking a geology course in which the professor talked about how the
mountains are growing at a (geologically speaking) extremely fast rate. I
cannot remember how much taller they are growing on-average each year, and
would like to know. I have spent quite some time trying to find the answer on
the internet, and cannot find it.
Answer
Hi, I have found some references that give recent vertical uplift rates of 400 to 800 meters per million years, or about 0.8 millimeters per year. The rates probably vary quite a bit. If you go to Google Scholar and do a search on "Andes vertical uplift rates" you can lean more- there are probably some GPS data for the last 10 years or so. Try for papers by Mike Bevis. Hope this helps. Cheers.
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