Earth’s crust collapses under the Andes

An international team of scientists, led by Earth scientists at the University of Toronto, has discovered that the Earth’s crust toward the mantle below the Andes mountain range in South America is collapsing over millions of years.

According to the study, which was recently published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the phenomenon is known as “lithosphere dripping,” a name derived from the fragmentation of the rocky material that makes up the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. This lengthy geological process has resulted in significant surface deformations such as troughs, crustal folding and irregular elevations. It is a phenomenon in which a dense, cold mass of lithosphere sinks into the more flexible upper mantle.