South American Plate in the context of "Barbados"

The Leeward Antilles (Dutch: Benedenwindse Eilanden; Spanish: islas de Sotavento) are a chain of islands in the Caribbean, specifically part of the southerly islands of the Lesser Antilles (and, in turn, the Antilles and the West Indies) along the southeastern fringe of the Caribbean Sea, just north of the Venezuelan coast of the South American mainland. The Leeward Antilles, while among the Lesser Antilles, are not to be confused with the Leeward Islands (also of the Lesser Antilles) to the northeast.

Largely lacking in volcanic activity, the Leeward Antilles island arc occurs along the deformed southern edge of the Caribbean Plate and was formed by the plate's subduction under the South American Plate. Recent studies indicate that the Leeward Antilles are accreting to South America.

46°50′50″S 75°20′04″W / 46.84722°S 75.33444°W / -46.84722; -75.33444

The Tres Montes Peninsula (Spanish: Península Tres Montes, English: Three Hills Peninsula) is a southwestward projection of Taitao Peninsula which in turn connects to the mainland of Chile by the narrow Isthmus of Ofqui. The peninsula is situated in Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region close to the Chile Triple Junction of the Nazca, Antarctic and South American plates.

Insular Chile, also called Las islas Esporádicas, or 'the Sporadic Islands', is a scattered group of oceanic islands of volcanic origin located in the South Pacific, and which are under the sovereignty of Chile. The islands lie on the Nazca Plate, separate from the South American continental plate.

Despite not being continental islands, the Juan Fernández Islands and the Desventuradas Islands are considered "Continental Insular Chile"; Salas y Gómez Island and Easter Island (both geographically situated in Polynesia) form the zone known as "Oceanic Insular Chile". All of insular Chile is administrated as part of the Valparaíso Region.

The Scotia Arc is the island arc system forming the north, east and south border of the Scotia Sea. The northern border, the North Scotia Ridge, comprises (from west to east): Isla de los Estados at the tip of Tierra del Fuego, the Burdwood, Davis, and Aurora Banks; the Shag, South Georgia Island and Clerke Rocks. The eastern border comprises the volcanic South Sandwich Islands flanked by the South Sandwich Trench. The southern border, the South Scotia Ridge, comprises (east to west): Herdman, Discovery, Bruce, Pirie, and Jane Banks; the South Orkney Islands and Elephant Island. Finally, the Bransfield Strait separates the arc from the South Shetland Islands and James Ross Island flanking the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The Scotia Arc surrounds the small Scotia and South Sandwich Plates.The arc is formed by continental fragments that once formed a land bridge between South America and Antarctica, which was once part of the subduction margin that still forms the Andes. An ancestral arc, which formed a separate subduction system, broke through this land bridge and started to form the Scotia Sea by eastward back-arc extension driven by subduction of the South American Plate (also located east of the Scotia Arc).Today, the Scotia Arc forms a discontinuous link between South America and Antarctica. It is considered a continuation of the Andes, and the antarctic part of that mountain range is called the Antarctandes. The Scotia Arc is also an important barrier between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and therefore for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

The Guiana Shield (French: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; Dutch: Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; Portuguese: Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; Spanish: Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on the shield are called the Guiana Highlands, which is where the table-like mountains called tepuis are found. The Guiana Highlands are also the source of some of the world's most well-known waterfalls such as Angel Falls, Kaieteur Falls, and Cuquenan Falls.

The Guiana Shield underlies Guyana (previously British Guiana), Suriname (previously Dutch Guiana), and French Guiana (or Guyane), much of southern Venezuela, as well as parts of Colombia and Brazil. The first three are called The Guianas. The rocks of the Guiana Shield consist of metasediments and metavolcanics (greenstones) overlain by sub-horizontal layers of sandstones, quartzites, shales and conglomerates intruded by sills of younger mafic intrusives such as gabbros.