The movement of the Nazca plate over several hotspots has created some volcanic islands as well as east–west running seamount chains that subduct under South America.

The eastern margin is a convergent boundary subduction zone under the South American plate and the Andes Mountains, forming the Peru–Chile Trench.

Yet another triple junction occurs at the southwest corner at the intersection of the Nazca, Pacific, and Antarctic plates off the coast of southern Chile.

Deformation of the Nazca plate even affects the geography of Bolivia, far to the east (Tinker et al.).

, which at that time was the strongest instrumentally recorded earthquake occurring deeper than 300 km (190 mi).

It has been suggested that the mountains were forced up by the subduction of the older and heavier parts of the plate, which sank more quickly into the mantle.