The Nazca Plate at the Peru-Chile Trench subducts beneath the South America Plate at an average rate of . This subduction occurs at an angle and has generated the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone which runs along the volcanic arc. Where the Chile Rise intersects the trench the Nazca Plate ends and the Antarctic Plate begins. This plate also subducts farther south beneath the South America Plate but at a lower pace of . Part of the Nazca Plate has been shoved over the South America Plate at the Taitao Peninsula resulting in the formation of the Taitao ophiolite. A number of fracture zones cross the Nazca Plate and are subducted in the trench; one of these is subducted directly under Mentolat and may explain anomalous traits of the Mentolat magmas.