The Coastal Cliff of northern Chile 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.