Coastal Cliff of northern Chile

The Coastal Cliff of northern Chile (Acantilado Costero) stretches over a length of more than 1000 km along the Atacama Desert. It makes up a large part of the western boundary to the Chilean Coast Range in the regions of Arica y Parinacota, Tarapacá, Antofagasta, and Atacama. According to Roland Paskoff, the modern cliff originated from a scarp retreat of a fault scarp, thus at present the cliff does not follow any fault.

In some locations, a series of coastal benches can be found below the cliff. Despite alternating uplift and subsidence of the continent at a decadal timescale the cliff and the whole western edge of the South American plate has faced a long-term uplift during the last 2.5 million years.