Mountain ranges often run parallel to coastlines due to convergent plate tectonics.
Geological evidence from active convergent margins around the world consistently shows that major mountain ranges, such as the Andes and ancient coastal ranges, form parallel to coastlines as a direct result of subduction and plate convergence.
The claim is specific, empirical, and falsifiable regarding the geological origins of mountain ranges running parallel to coastlines. Multiple retrieved papers (such as [0], [3], [10], and [11]) provide extensive empirical evidence documenting how convergent plate boundaries and subduction zones drive the formation of coastal and cordilleran mountain belts aligned with the plate margin, fully supporting the claim.
B. Horton. Sedimentary record of Andean mountain building. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EARSCIREV.2017.11.025
The paper reconstructs Mesozoic-Cenozoic subduction-related mountain building along the western margin of South America, demonstrating how convergent tectonics form coastal and cordilleran mountain ranges parallel to the subduction boundary.
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Y. Suo, San-zhong Li, C. Jin, Yong Zhang, Jie Zhou, Xiyao Li, Pengcheng Wang, Ze Liu, Xinyu Wang, I. Somerville. Eastward tectonic migration and transition of the Jurassic-Cretaceous Andean-type continental margin along Southeast China. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EARSCIREV.2019.102884
The study details how the subduction of the paleo-Pacific Plate generated a NNE-striking Jurassic magmatic arc along Southeast China that coincided with a paleo-topographic coastal mountain range parallel to the convergent boundary.
Jianhua Li, Shuwen Dong, Guochun Zhao, Peter A. Cawood, S. T. Johnston, Jian Zhang, Yujia Xin, Jinming Wang. Cretaceous coastal mountain building and potential impacts on climate change in East Asia. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads0587
This study characterizes eastern Asia as an archetypal Andean-type convergent margin where tectonic shortening created a high coastal mountain range running parallel to the subduction zone.
M. Riesner, M. Simoes, D. Carrizo, R. Lacassin. Early exhumation of the Frontal Cordillera (Southern Central Andes) and implications for Andean mountain-building at ~33.5°S. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44320-1
The paper discusses the Andes as the modern active example of a Cordilleran-type orogen, where mountain-building and crustal thickening occur within the upper plate of a convergent subduction zone.
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