- journal_title：Geology
- Contributor：Gregory D. Hoke ; Bryan L. Isacks ; Teresa E. Jordan ; Jennifer S. Yu
- Publisher：Geological Society of America
- Date：2004-
- Format：text/html
- Language：en
- Identifier：10.1130/G20601.1
- journal_abbrev：Geology
- issn：0091-7613
- volume：32
- issue：7
- firstpage：605
Northernmost Chile is home to a well-preserved disequilibrium landscape of great antiquity. Contrasting drainage patterns are developed on the western slope of the Altiplano plateau. The oldest of these patterns is a now-relict parallel-patterned drainage network. In places a younger pattern, comprising a series of deeply incised canyons, or quebradas, crosscuts the older parallel-patterned network. These canyons show strong evidence of a groundwater-sapping origin. We hypothesize that the initiation of the canyon network resulted from changes in the hydrological regime related to a drying out of climate of the forearc and to the uplift of the Altiplano plateau.