How do people use an area of fold mountains?
The Andes and its people
The Andes are a range of young fold mountains formed some 65 million years ago.
How were they created?
They are at a destructive plate margin. The Nazca oceanic plate meets the S.American
continental plate. This subduction zone has created an ocean trench and the Andes fold
mountains.
Why are they so well known?
They are the longest range of fold mountains in the world, 7000km long, the length of
S.America. They are 300km wide with average height of 4000m.
People use the Andes in 4 ways:
1. Farming
2. Mining
3. Hydroelectric power (HEP)
4. Tourism
Farming
Farming happens in the Andes despite:
1. High Altitude
2. Mountain slopes
In Bolivia:
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Subsistence Farmers grow a variety of crops on the steep slopes,
including potatoes (a main source of food).
Use terraces to create areas of flat land on the slopes.
Terraces are good as flat areas hold water in an area with little, and
they stop movement of soil keeping soils thicker in an area with thin soils.
Most crops grown in the lower valleys. Patchwork of different crops eg.
Cash crops (crops sold for money) of soybeans, rice and cotton.
Llamas are synonymous with the Andes.
-They are the pack animals, carrying irrigation and building materials into inhospitable
and hard to reach areas for 100s of years.
-Ancient settlement of Machu Picchu relied on Llamas to transport materials and goods
due to its remote location.
-Llamas are surefooted (don’t fall easily), carry over 25% of body weight (125-200kg)
and mining industry relied on them as a form of transport. Today, this use still exists –
largely of male Llamas. Females are used for meat, milk, wool (for clothes, rugs).
Mining
Andes has a range of important minerals
 Andean countries rank in the top 10 for tin (Peru, Bolivia), nickel (Columbia),
silver (Peru and Chile) and Gold (Peru).
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More than ½ of Peru’s exports (what they sell abroad) from mining.
Yanacocha Gold mine is the largest Gold mine in the world.
 It is a joint venture between a Peruvian mining company and a US based one that
has a 51% share.
 Mine is an open pit and daily dynamite blasts loosen the gold bearing rocks.
 Rock is sprayed with cyanide (poison) and gold is extracted from the solution.
 This spraying can contaminate the water supply.
Nearby town of Cajamara has grown from 30,000 (when mine began) to 240,000 in 2005.
This brings other alternative jobs with it.
BUT this also brings problems:
 Lack of services (toilets, sewage stations etc)
 Increased crime rate.
HEP (Hydroelectric power)
Steep slopes and narrow valleys limit farming but are perfect for HEP.
 More easily dammed than wider valleys
 Relief (slope of the land) encourages the rapid fall/flow of water needed to
make electricity.
 Melting snow in spring increases the supply of water
 However varied rainfall throughout rest of year is a disadvantage.
2 Dams
 Yuncan project dams the Paucartambo and Huachon rivers in NEast Peru
 El Platinal project begins being built in 2009. It will be the 2 nd largest dam in
Peru and will dam the Canete river.
Tourism
There are many natural attractions:
 Mountain peaks, volcanoes, glaciers, lakes.
 Some tourist attractions show how people settled in these inhospitable areas eg.
remains of settlements built by the Incas like Machu Picchu.
 Inca trail – mix of Inca ruins, mountain scenery, lush forest and tropical jungle.
Key Terms
Subsistence – farming to provide food and other resources for the
farmer’s own family.
Terraces – steps cut into the hillsides to create areas of flat land.
Irrigation – artificial watering of the land.
Hydroelectric power – the use of the flowing water to turn turbines to
generate (make) electricity.