The coastal region of south-central Peru displays raised marine terraces indicating that, unlike the central Peruvian coast, it underwent a strong uplift since the Late Pliocene. These recent vertical movements, which were probably the most rapid motion experienced along the Pacific coast of South-America, are commonly considered to be closely related to the subduction of the aseismic Nazca Ridge. However, several questions regarding the geometry and the precise mechanism(s) responsible for this deformation have not yet been fully addressed. The kinematic constraints of the Andean convergence suggest that the deformation of the coastal area between Pisco and Lomas is characterized by a quite continuous sequence of uplift events progressing southwards. In spite of some difficulties encountered in precisely dating the uplifted Quaternary terraces and other remnants of Pliocene marine platforms, it is proposed that uplift rates during the Late Pleistocene reached maximum values of the order of 700 mm/10 3 y (as against a recently proposed estimate of 470 mm/10 3 y). The reconstructed finite deformation as recorded by the study area for the last 3 Ma presents a NW-SE-oriented, asymmetric dome-shaped pattern. It is emphasized that the strongest uplift has been occurring immediately south of the inland projection of the Nazca Ridge, and not along the ridge axis as envisioned by the previously constructed physical models.