South American Breakup and Andean Torque Deformation

Geological deformations are generally attributed to compressional, extensional and strike-slip processes. Since the breakup of Gondwana, torque deformation has been responsible for the current configuration of the western coasts of Africa and the eastern shore of South America and the morphotectonic geometry of the rift basins of South America, conditioning the morphostructure of the Andean chain and the current geoforms of the foreland.