The western South American subduction zone is among the largest subduction systems on the planet and stands out as the archetype of ocean-continent convergent margins. Compared to other subduction zones, the region is notable because it is associated with the largest accretionary orogen of the world (The Andes cordillera), it shows several regions of flat slab subduction, and it hosted some of the largest instrumentally recorded earthquakes. Over the last years and decades, significant progress has been achieved in characterizing and imaging the constituent parts of the South American subduction zone (downgoing oceanic plates, South American upper plate, plate interface between them, mantle wedge beneath the upper plate) as well in the understanding of geodynamic and seismotectonic processes shaping the convergent margin.

In this session, we aim to bring together scientists and contributions from a wide variety of disciplines that try to constrain and understand past and ongoing processes in this subduction zone. These can include, but are not limited to: seismo-geodetic studies of slow and fast deformation along the plate interface; geophysical studies of subduction zone structure, geometry and fluid processes; analog and numerical modeling studies of this subduction zone; studies on faulting or fluid processes in the upper plate; offshore studies on bathymetry and structure of the downgoing plate or the outer forearc; studies of Andean magmatism, volcanic processes and their link to tectonics and metallogenesis.