Fig. 1: Retro-projected trajectories for points of the Nazca plate relative to South America and topography of the Andean margin.

We selected three points on the Nazca plate that are currently entering the trench axis at 20°, 30°, and 40°S, and show their retro-projected position as predicted by our kinematic reconstruction (circles with blue outline) and by Somoza and Ghidella (2012; squares with red outline). Colors for each point represent the average age of the respective stage rotation and the ellipses indicate their 95% confidence interval (i.e. two standard deviations = 2 s). The colored map shows the bathymetry and topography of the Andean margin east of the trench axis. Labels of morpho-structural units that form the anatomy of the margin are also used in Fig. 3 and are defined as follow: cc Coastal Cordillera, id Intermediate Depression, dc Domeyko Cordillera, wc Western Cordillera, ap Altiplano, ec Eastern Cordillera, sa Subandean System, fc Frontal Cordillera, pc Precordillera, sp Sierras Pampeanas, cv Central Valley, pgc Patagonian Cordillera, pas Patagonian System, npm North Patagonian Massif.