The deeper levels of the plateau have been exposed on its margins at the North and South American plates.

Behind me, in the dark, was the similarly undisturbed sheet of crust known as the South American Plate.

The earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American plates.

Preliminary measurements show that the entire South American Plate moved abruptly westward during the quake.

Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate.

As the South American plate Continental Drift northward, a subduction zone was created in this region.

It is squeezed between the faster moving South American Plate and the Nazca Plate.

The Guiana Shield is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate.

In this area, the Nazca Plate is subducting beneath the South American Plate.

The South American Plate is in motion, moving westward away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The Andes were formed by the oceanic Nazca plate's sliding under and pushing up the continental South American plate.

The arc has formed due to subduction of the Antarctic Plate under the South American Plate.

But in the case of the Parana volcanic flood plain, it appears that the plume moved along with the South American plate for thousands of miles.

The earthquake is likely to be a result of thrust-faulting, caused by the subduction of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate.

The earthquake occurred as thrust-faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the South American plate moving up and seaward over the Nazca plate.

The South American Plate drifted northward, riding up over the denser North American continental crust.

Chile lies along the destructive plate boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate.

The fault marks a transform boundary between the Scotia Plate and the South American Plate, cutting across continental crust.

Subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate to form the Andes.

The amount of slip then was estimated to represent the build-up of 250 to 350 years' worth of friction between the Nazca and South American plates.

The diversification of Ampullariidae started probably after the separation of African Plate and South American Plate.

In this subduction zone, oceanic crust of the South American Plate is being subducted under the Caribbean Plate.

This earthquake occurred at the plate interface and is associated with the subduction of the 1.5 km high Nazca Ridge beneath the South American plate.

The three plates which meet here are the South American Plate, the African Plate, and the Antarctic Plate.

The trench is a result of the eastern edge of the Nazca Plate being subducted under the South American Plate.