The Eastern Cordillera of the Central Andes: Inherited mechanical weakness as a first-order control on the Cenozoic orogeny

The Eastern Cordillera (EC) forms the structurally elevated continentward border of almost the entire Central Andean plateau. It is a Cenozoic, onen doubly vergent, basement-involved thrust belt. The EC is marked by stronger structural relief and deeper exhumation than the westerly adjacent Puna and Altiplano, and it hosts only a few Cenozoic syntectonic sedimentary basins. Radiometrie ages and thermochronologic data indicate that th