Current end-member models for the geodynamic evolution of orogenic plateaus predict (a) slow and steady rise during crustal shortening and ablative subduction (i.e., continuous removal) of the lower lithosphere or (b) rapid surface uplift following shortening, which is associated with punctuated removal of dense lower lithosphere and/or lower crustal flow. This review integrates results from recent studies of the modern lithospheric structure, geologic evolution, and surface uplift history of the Central Andean Plateau to evaluate the geodynamic processes involved in forming it. Comparison of the timing, magnitude, and distribution of shortening and surface uplift, in combination with other geologic evidence, highlights the pulsed nature of plateau growth. We discuss specific regions and time periods that show evidence for end-member geodynamic processes, including middle–late Miocene surface uplift of the southern Eastern Cordillera and Altiplano associated with shortening and ablative subduction, latest Oligocene–early Miocene and late Miocene–early Pliocene punctuated removal of dense lower lithosphere in the Eastern Cordillera and Altiplano, and late Miocene–early Pliocene crustal flow in the central and northern Altiplano.

A balanced cross-section spanning the Eastern Cordillera and Subandean Zone of southern Peru (13–15°S) constrains ~130 km (38%) of Cenozoic orogen-normal SW–NE Andean deformation accommodated by thick- and thin-skinned retro–arc fold–thrust belt shortening that overprinted pre-Andean Triassic normal faults. Zircon and apatite (U–Th)/He ages demonstrate continuous Oligocene to Miocene cooling of the Permo-Triassic Coasa pluton in the Eastern Cordillera. Zircon (U–Th)/He ages (~34–18 Ma) are reset and define a steep age versus elevation relationship. Apatite (U–Th)/He results reveal reset ages that define two spatially separated groups with ages of ~30–26 Ma and ~17–11 Ma. Detrital zircon U–Pb geochronologic results from Cretaceous–Cenozoic siliciclastic rocks from the Altiplano/Eastern Cordillera record Andean fold–thrust belt and magmatic-arc sediment sources. Correlative Subandean Zone rocks preserve a cratonic sediment contribution, with minor Andean sediment appearing in some Cenozoic rocks. We propose that earliest Andean deformation and structural compartmentalization of the Eastern Cordillera was linked to selective inversion of inherited Permo-Triassic basement-involved normal faults that guided subsequent thick- and thin-skinned deformation. Provenance variations between the hinterland and foreland depocentres reveal competing eastern and western sediment sources, reflecting an axial zone in the Eastern Cordillera that coincided with the inherited Triassic graben and impeded sediment source mixing. Our zircon and apatite (U–Th)/He ages are consistent with published constraints along strike and support pulses of Eocene to late Miocene exhumation that were likely driven by normal fault reactivation and protracted Eastern Cordillera deformation.

Cenozoic basin fill of the northern Altiplano plateau records the tectonic development of the flanking Western Cordillera magmatic arc and Eastern Cordillera fold-thrust belt. The Ayaviri hinterland basin of southern Peru contains a ~2300 m thick succession of fluvial sandstones and overbank siltstones (upper Oligocene Puno Group and lower Miocene lower Tinajani Formation) capped by ~400 m of alluvial fan conglomerates (middle Miocene upper Tinajani Formation). New U-Pb zircon chronostratigraphic constraints from ~30 to 15 Ma yield sediment accumulation rates of 110–660 m/Myr. Newly dated growth strata highlight the genetic role played by thrust displacement in basin evolution. A several phase accumulation history derived from chronostratigraphic, provenance, and structural data reveals Oligocene basin filling by fluvial sand and mud that changes provenance from Western Cordillera Mesozoic-Cenozoic volcanic rocks to Paleozoic-Mesozoic Eastern Cordillera sedimentary rocks driven by deformation along the southwest directed, northeastern basin margin Ayaviri thrust at 28–26 Ma. Continued early Miocene fluvial deposition was sourced solely from the Eastern Cordillera. An abrupt middle Miocene shift to coarse alluvial fan deposition sourced from the Western Cordillera was driven by out-of-sequence deformation along the northeast directed, southwestern basin margin Pasani thrust at 18–16 Ma. This northern Altiplano out-of-sequence deformation was coincident with increased Eastern and Western Cordillera exhumation and thrusting and may be symptomatic of changes in critical wedge dynamics. The overall record of basin sedimentation and syndepositional fold-thrust deformation emphasizes the role of regional shortening in governing crustal thickening and basin evolution in the central Andes during the Oligocene to Miocene.

The Moroccan Atlas developed through a multiphase tectonic history including Permian‐Jurassic continental rifting and Cretaceous‐Cenozoic intracontinental shortening. New detrital zircon (DZ) U–Pb geochronologic results from the Ourika‐Zat region in the Marrakech High Atlas constrain the sediment provenance of prerift sediment sources and synrift and postrift basin fill. Prerift Precambrian‐Cambrian units contain Neoproterozoic DZ from the Pan‐African orogeny. Ordovician rocks contain diagnostic 0.95‐ to 1.28‐Ga DZ that are absent in the West African Craton, suggesting distal sediment sources. Permian rift basin fill contains Permian zircons that constrain maximum deposition age and diagnostic of northern Meseta domain sediment sources. New mapping and cross‐section construction demonstrate that Permian basin fill accumulated in a half‐graben above a southward dipping normal fault that likely guided subsequent inversion. Triassic rift basin fill thickens southward, above a likely northward dipping normal fault. The change in rift basin geometry was accompanied by catchment reorganization, the introduction of southern rift flank sediment sources, and subbasin integration. The southern catchment expanded to encompass Meso‐Archean rocks of the Reguibat Shield situated >800 km southward. Existing and new provenance results from postrift strata document onset of recycling of Atlas rift basin fill during the mid‐Cretaceous and before the onset of compressional inversion. These results highlight the interaction between deformation and sediment routing in an extensional basin and sediment dispersal patterns across continental margins during multiphase deformation. Stratigraphic, structural, and provenance characteristics reveal that the Atlas rift shares similarities with high‐angle and supradetachment basin models, emphasizing the diverse nature of extensional styles.

Sedimentologic, provenance, geochronologic, and magnetostratigraphic results from clastic nonmarine deposits in the northern Altiplano Plateau of southern Peru (14–15°S) demonstrate late Eocene–Oligocene (37–26 Ma) accumulation of the >4-km-thick San Jeronimo (Puno) Group within a retroarc foreland basin related to early Andean shortening and crustal thickening. Punctuated Oligocene (29–26 Ma) displacement along deep-seated contractional structures, as revealed by growth stratal relationships, abruptly partitioned this regional flexural basin and established the structural boundaries of the smaller intermontane Ayaviri Basin, which continued to evolve in a hinterland setting during late Oligocene–Miocene shortening. This brief episode of shortening along the Altiplano–Eastern Cordillera boundary is correlated with exceptionally rapid sediment accumulation (>1100–1800 m/m.y.), tightly constrained to 30–28 Ma on the basis of U-Pb geochronology and magnetic polarity stratigraphy. Provenance data from detrital zircon U-Pb age populations and sandstone compositions indicate derivation from a complex belt of Paleogene shortening and probable basin inversion in the Western Cordillera that was subsequently overprinted by Andean arc magmatism. This early Andean zone is interpreted as the along-strike continuation of the better-exposed Maranon fold-thrust belt to the north (5–13°S) and a proposed belt of shortening to the south along the Chilean Precordillera and Western Cordillera of Bolivia and northern Argentina (17–25°S). Subsequent focusing of late Oligocene shortening along the Eastern Cordillera–Altiplano boundary may have been linked to shallowing of the subducting slab and potential reactivation of crustal anisotropies.