The Andes of Argentina and Chile between latitudes 33° and 34°S are composed from west to east of an Oligocene to Miocene volcanic arcs and the Neogene east‐vergent Aconcagua fold and thrust belt of the Cordillera Principal, and the basement‐block faulted Cordillera Frontal. A regional cross section suggests that shortening across the Andes was achieved by thrusting along detachments at several levels in the crust. While thin‐skinned deformation along newly formed thrusts occurred in Mesozoic sequences of the eastern Cordillera Principal, reactivation of preexisting Jurassic and Oligocene normal faults has resulted in additional hybrid thick‐ and thin‐skinned structures in the western Cordillera Principal. Five major thrusting events are recognized in this part of the Andes: (1) Early to Middle Miocene tectonic inversion of the extensional faults in the western Cordillera Principal, (2) Middle to Late Miocene development of the Aconcagua fold and thrust belt, (3) Late Miocene uplift of Cordillera Frontal, (4) Late Miocene–Early Pliocene out‐of‐sequence thrusting in the Cordillera Principal, and (5) Pliocene to present deformation of the foreland.

We propose an integrated kinematic model with mechanical constrains of the Maipo–Tunuyán transect (33°40′S) across the Andes. The model describes the relation between horizontal shortening, uplift, crustal thickening and activity of the magmatic arc, while accounting for the main deep processes that have shaped the Andes since Early Miocene time. We construct a conceptual model of the mechanical interplay between deep and shallow deformational processes, which considers a locked subduction interface cyclically released during megathrust earthquakes. During the coupling phase, long-term deformation is confined to the thermally and mechanically weakened Andean strip, where plastic deformation is achieved by movement along a main décollement located at the base of the upper brittle crust. The model proposes a passive surface uplift in the Coastal Range as the master décollement decreases its slip eastwards, transferring shortening to a broad area above a theoretical point S where the master detachment touches the Moho horizon. When the crustal root achieves its actual thickness of 50 km between 12 and 10 Ma, it resists further thickening and gravity-driven forces and thrusting shifts eastwards into the lowlands achieving a total Miocene–Holocene shortening of 71 km.

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Apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology from palaeosurface-bounded vertical transects collected in deeply incised river valleys with .2 km of relief, as well as geomorphic analysis, are used to examine the timing of uplift of the Frontal Cordillera and its relation to the evolution of the proximal portions of the Andean foreland between 328 and 348S latitude. The results of apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) analyses are complex. However, the data show positive age-elevation trends, with higher elevation samples yielding older AHe ages than samples at lower elevation. Slope breaks occur at c. 25 Ma in both profiles, separating very slow cooling and or residence within a partial retention zone (slope of c. 10 m/Myr) at the highest elevations from a slope of c. 60-100 m/ Myr cooling rate at lower elevations. The older AHe ages suggest either (1) minimal burial of the Frontal Cordillera and/or (2) significant pre -middle Miocene local relief. Geomorphic analysis of the adjacent, east-draining Río Mendoza and Río Tunuyán catchments reveals a glacial imprint to the landscape at elevations above 3000 m, including greater channel steepness and lower profile concavities developed during glacial erosion. Detailed analysis of headwall heights provides evidence of ongoing rock uplift along the entire eastern flank of the Frontal Cordillera and in the eastern flank of the Principal Cordillera south of the slab dip transition.

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