In the past 15 years a major research programme has been carried out in the central Andes, funded principally by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) leadership by prominent German geoscientists and involving the collaboration of universities and geological surveys in Chile, Bolivia and Argentina: Collaborative Research Centre SFB 267 ‘Deformation processes in the Andes’ 1993–2005. Multi-disciplinary research, which has included an important element on the collection and interpretation of new geophysical data, began in a broad transect through the Altiplano–Puna region (∼16–28° S) and continued for the final six years in the south-central Andes (∼35–42° S). Many of the results of the project have appeared in theses, conference proceedings and published papers, but this beautifully produced book is a comprehensive summary of the main findings and their implications in an easily accessible format. It consists of 30 chapters, with an accompanying DVD (auto start with very clear instructions). The book is dedicated to Peter Geise (1931–2005), a principal instigator of the programme. The contents are divided into five Parts corresponding to identified themes, each with a one-page explanatory introduction. Each chapter also has its own ∼300 word abstract.

Part I (‘The Big Picture’) has contributions on the large-scale aspects (although the first two deal only with the northern transect): deformation and crustal shortening through time; the space–time evolution of volcanic activity and its relationship to deformation; geochemical and isotopic evidence for the recycling and re-working of the basement rocks; seismic analysis of subduction-related deformation, elasticity and mantle viscosity; and high-resolution marine seismic evidence related to the nature of sediment subduction along the Andean chain. Part II (‘Elements of the Subduction System’) has six chapters covering the dynamics of subduction and mass transfer by subduction erosion. Part III (‘Tectonics and Surface Processes – Responses to Change’) is the largest, with nine chapters, mainly on the effects of uplift and subsidence, including basin and salar formation, landscape and climate. In Part IV (‘The System at Depth: Images and Models’), five chapters present seismological and other geophysical data, resulting in numerical modelling of deformation and constraints on melting within the crust. Part V (‘The Andean Information System: Data, Maps and Movies’) has five chapters on data management in the project, digital databases and geological and gravity maps of the study area, many of which are included in the accompanying DVD, as well as movies and field photos, together with most of the necessary software to view them (Linux, Macintosh and Windows compatible versions). Incidentally, the animations could be used for teaching at an elementary level.

Overall the book reflects the enormous investment in geophysical data represented by this long-term project, and the resulting geophysical interpretations of crustal structure and processes. Conventional geological and petrological investigation of tectonic evolution, following up many previous years of smaller-scale German-funded research in northern Chile, is dealt with in much less detail, and there is very little reference to the Patagonian Andes south of 42° S, where the crustal structure, magmatism and plate interactions are very different. With this proviso I recommend this book as an indispensable resource for serious researchers interested in the structure of this unique, active, subduction-related mountain system.