Abstract
Abstract Geological events of biological importance in the history of the Andes include their impact on global climates through an influence on atmospheric circulation, rainfall patterns, and the atmospheric concentration of CO2; habitat diversification from lowlands through paramo to glaciated peaks; and migratory pathways ranging from discontinuous (mesic elements), highly discontinuous (paramo elements), barriers (to east-west migrations), to selective pathways (via the dry Andean valleys). The timing of these effects is a function of the uplift history of three (to nine) morphotectonic segments of the Andes resulting in (1) mostly lowland swamp and fluvial environments in the Cretaceous and Paleocene, (2) moderate uplands beginning in the Late Eocene (ca. 40 million years ago [Ma]), (3) appression of an offshore volcanic chain (the proto–Cordillera Occidental) in the Oligocene (ca. 30 Ma), (4) uplift of the proto–Cordillera Oriental and the Altiplano to about half their present altitude by the Middle ...
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