Over-all the basin has evolved through time in a context of horizontal shortening of Earth's crust.

[1] The great thickness of the sediments accumulated in the basin is mostly the result of the erosion of Cordillera Oriental.

[2] The Altiplano Basin has an approximate area of 154,176 square kilometres (59,528 sq mi).

In the Late Eocene and Oligocene, sediments accumulated in the basin at a rate of up to 500 metres (1,600 ft) every million years.

[5] From bottom to top these are:[4] It has been suggested that the northern part of the Altiplano Basin experienced a significant reverse fault movement in the Oligocene and Early Miocene (c. 28 to 16 million years ago).