The surface uplift of mountain belts is generally assumed to reflect progressive shortening and crustal thickening, leading to their gradual rise. Recent studies of the Andes indicate that their elevation remained relatively stable for long periods (tens of millions of years), separated by rapid (1 to 4 million years) changes of 1.5 kilometers or more. Periodic punctuated surface uplift of mountain belts probably reflects the rapid removal of unstable, dense lower lithosphere after long-term thickening of the crust and lithospheric mantle.

The elevation of Earth's surface is among the most difficult environmental variables to reconstruct from the geological record. Here we describe an approach to paleoaltimetry based on independent and simultaneous determinations of soil temperatures and the oxygen isotope compositions of soil waters, constrained by measurements of abundances of ¹³ C- ¹⁸ O bonds in soil carbonates. We use this approach to show that the Altiplano plateau in the Bolivian Andes rose at an average rate of 1.03 ± 0.12 millimeters per year between ∼10.3 and ∼6.7 million years ago. This rate is consistent with the removal of dense lower crust and/or lithospheric mantle as the cause of elevation gain.