Recent models of the evolution of the Andean Cordillera suggest a "collisional" origin, driven by rapid westward advance of the South American Plate. We present upper crustal data that supports the collisional model and implies that westward motion of the South American Plate is partitioned about lithospheric scale, orogen-oblique fault zones. Orogen-oblique fault/lineament zones form a conjugate NE and NW oriented system, and commonly extend along-strike from the Argentine foreland, into and across the Andean Cordillera. The Tucuman zone is a major NE trending, zone of complex linked fault systems and isolated Tertiary sub-basins. It defines the southern margin of the Miocene-Pliocene uplifted Puna Plateau, and the northern margin of the Pliocene-Quaternary Sierras Pampeanas contractional uplift. It defines also the southern extent of the Pliocene-Quaternary magmatic arc, demarks apparent dextral offset of earlier magmatic arc systems, and corresponds to the zone of transition between steep and flat dipping subduction of the Nazca Plate. The southern margin of the Puna plateau, directly north of the Tucuman zone in the Jague study area, is characterized by crustal thickening in response to opposed vergence thrusting. Regionally, Puna uplift is considered to be Miocene-Pliocene in age, and thus coeval with the development of isolated, Miocene-Pliocene wrench-driven depocentres, located and contained within the Tucuman zone such as at Jague, and Farallon Negro. The Jague study area includes the confluence of the Tucuman zone with the Valle de Fertil Fault, one of the major SE-trending conjugate fault zones. This fault is a major transpressive sinistral wrench, accommodating east-west shortening. It terminates at the dextral Tucuman zone in a complex region of curved thrust and wrench faults, demonstrating the same east-west bulk strain geometry. Thrusts of both polarity occur in this zone although west-verging thrusts dominate. The two linked major wrench systems delineate a crustal wedge converging westward with the cordillera in the Pliocene-Quaternary, causing transpressive wrenching across both conjugate systems, and deforming the Miocene-Pliocene basin sediments. Of the two major conjugate systems, the Tucuman zone is the most significant in terms of its influence on Cenozoic tectonic architecture. We interpret this zone as reflecting a long-lived lithospheric-scale structure across which opposed-vergence contraction, and possibly bulk convergence rates are partitioned. We support collision models for the Andean Cordillera driven by westward convergence of the South American Plate with the Nazca Plate, but consider that partitioning in the relative timing and rates of convergence of lithospheric segments may reflect orogen-parallel differences in the underlying sub-lithospheric flow regime.