Andes Mountains - Geology for Kids

Andes

Andes
The Andes

About 199 million years ago, near the beginning of the Jurassic period, in the time of the dinosaurs, the supercontinent of Pangaea broke up and the pieces began to float away from each other. The Pacific Ocean tectonic plate began to squeeze under the South America plate, pushing up the Andes mountains that now run all along the west side of South America.

Andes

The Andes are far older than the Alps, the Rockies, or the Himalayas. They're the oldest high mountains in the world, though they are newer than the Appalachian mountains or the Ural mountains.

The Andes were the original home of llamas and wild tomatoes and potatoes, among other things.

Learn by Doing - Graph the height of mountain chains

To find out more about the Andes, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:

Geology
Chemistry
Physics
Math
Biology
Science for Kids home page
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Cite this page: Carr, Karen (PhD).

Kidipede - History for Kids. 2012.
http://www.scienceforkids.kidipede.com/geology/platetectonics/andes.htm