Precambrian South America

higher elevations on the Guiana Shield

geological formation in northeast South America

geologic province in South America

Bolivian mountain

ancient craton in the eastern part of South America with outcrops in Minas Gerais and Bahia, Brazil

continental block in southeastern South America

Arequipa-Antofalla is a basement unit underlying the central Andes in northwestern Argentina, western Bolivia, northern Chile and southern Peru. Geologically, it corresponds to a craton, terrane or block of continental crust. Arequipa-Antofalla collided and amalgamated with the Amazonian craton about 1000 million years ago during the Sunsás orogeny. As a terrane, Arequipa-Antofalla was ribbon-shaped during the Paleozoic, a time when it was bounded in the west by the Iapetus Ocean and in the east by the Puncoviscana Ocean.