- Peru-Chile Trench
The Peru-Chile Trench, also known as the Atacama Trench, is an
oceanic trench in the easternPacific Ocean , about 160 kilometers (100 mi) off the coast ofPeru andChile . It reaches a maximum depth of 8,065 meters (26,460 ft) below sea level inRichards Deep and is approximately 5,900 kilometers (3,666 mi) long; its mean width is 64 kilometers (40 mi) and it covers an expanse of some 590,000 square kilometers (228,000 mi²).The trench is a result of the eastern edge of the
Nazca Plate being subducted under theSouth American Plate .The Peru-Chile Trench, the
forearc and the western edge of the central Andean plateau (Altiplano), delineate the dramatic "Bolivian Orocline" that defines the Andean slope of southern Peru, northern Chile, andBolivia .See also
*
Oceanic trench
*Pacific Ring of Fire
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.