How Does The long history of the Andes Work?

The Andes are like a long, wiggly mountain range that has been growing and changing for millions of years, just like a tree grows taller every year.

Imagine you have a big pile of building blocks, each one represents a piece of the Earth’s crust. Over time, these blocks push against each other, stacking up higher and higher to form mountains, just like how your tower of blocks gets taller when you add more on top.

The Andes started growing because two big pieces of the Earth, called tectonic plates, bumped into each other. One plate is still pushing under the other, making the mountains get taller and taller. It’s like when you press your hands together slowly, the more pressure you add, the more they push up.

This process has been happening for a really long time, so long that it's like watching a slow-motion movie of a mountain growing right in front of you!