For example, the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges covering several regions in North, South and Central America are a result of the collision of oceanic and continental plates.
Nowadays, residents of the western regions of South America have to cope with the consequences of this collision.
Every year, there are powerful earthquakes that are caused by the accumulation of tectonic tension in those areas where the plates "scratch" each other. The release of the energy leads to powerful earthquakes.
"It turned out that in fact, in all regions in central Chile, large shocks occurred fairly regularly, with a frequency of about 60 to 80 years," the Earth and Planetary Science Letters journal wrote.
Seismologist Emile Klein from Strasbourg University (France) and his colleagues found out that the next powerful earthquake could soon occur near Santiago.
