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The Pacific Ring Of Fire


The Ring of Fire is a string of volcanoes and sites of seismic activity, or earthquakes, around the edges of the Pacific Ocean. Roughly 90% of all earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire, and the ring is dotted with 75% of all active volcanoes on Earth.

The Ring of Fire isn’t quite a circular ring. It is shaped more like a 40,000-kilometer (25,000-mile) horseshoe. A string of 452 volcanoes stretches from the southern tip of South America, up along the coast of North America, across the Bering Strait, down through Japan, and into New Zealand. Several active and dormant volcanoes in Antarctica, however, “close” the ring.

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ring-fire/

Other Meanings:

The Ring of Fire is a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. In a 40,000 km (25,000 mi) horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and plate movements. It has 452 volcanoes (more than 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes).[1] The Ring of Fire is sometimes called the circum-Pacific belt.

About 90%[2] of the world's earthquakes and 81%[3] of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. The next most seismically active region (5–6% of earthquakes and 17% of the world's largest earthquakes) is the Alpide belt, which extends from Java to the northern Atlantic Ocean via the Himalayas and southern Europe.[4][5]

All but three of the world's 25 largest volcanic eruptions of the last 11,700 years occurred at volcanoes in the Ring of Fire.[6]

The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics: the movement and collisions of lithospheric plates.[7] The eastern section of the ring is the result of the Nazca Plate and the Cocos Plate being subducted beneath the westward-moving South American Plate. The Cocos Plate is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate, in Central America. A portion of the Pacific Plate and the small Juan de Fuca Plate are being subducted beneath the North American Plate. Along the northern portion, the northwestward-moving Pacific plate is being subducted beneath the Aleutian Islands arc. Farther west, the Pacific plate is being subducted along the Kamchatka Peninsula arcs on south past Japan. The southern portion is more complex, with a number of smaller tectonic plates in collision with the Pacific plate from the Mariana Islands, the Philippines, Bougainville, Tonga, and New Zealand; this portion excludes Australia, since it lies in the center of its tectonic plate. Indonesia lies between the

Ring of Fire along the northeastern islands adjacent to and including New Guinea and the Alpide belt along the south and west from Sumatra, Java, Bali, Flores, and Timor. The famous and very active San Andreas Fault zone of California is a transform fault which offsets a portion of the East Pacific Rise under southwestern United States and Mexico. The motion of the fault generates numerous small earthquakes, at multiple times a day, most of which are too small to be felt.[8][9] The active Queen Charlotte Fault on the west coast of the Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, has generated three large earthquakes during the 20th century: a magnitude 7 event in 1929; a magnitude 8.1 in 1949 (Canada's largest recorded earthquake); and a magnitude 7.4 in 1970.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire

The Ring of Fire is a 25,000 mile (40,000 km) horseshoe-shaped area of intense volcanic and seismic (earthquake) activity that follows the edges of the Pacific Ocean. Receiving its fiery name from the 452 dormant and active volcanoes that lie within it, the Ring of Fire includes 75% of the world's active volcanoes and is also responsible for 90% of the world's earthquakes.

WHERE IS THE RING OF FIRE?

The Ring of Fire is an arc of mountains, volcanoes, and oceanic trenches that stretch from New Zealand northward along the eastern edge of Asia, then east across the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and then south along the western coasts of North and South America.

WHAT CREATED THE RING OF FIRE?

The Ring of Fire was created by plate tectonics. Tectonic plates are like giant rafts on the Earth's surface that often slide next to, collide with, and are forced underneath each other. The Pacific Plate is quite large and thus it borders (and interacts) with a number of large and small plates.

The interactions between the Pacific Plate and its surrounding tectonic plates creates a tremendous amount of energy, which, in turn, easily melts rocks into magma. This magma then rises to the surface as lava and forms volcanoes.

https://www.thoughtco.com/ring-of-fire-1433460

Countries in The Ring of Fire

The top 15 countries in The Pacific Ring of Fire include:

1. Chile

2. Mexico

3. United States

4.Antarctica

5. Russia

6. Japan

7. Philippines

8. Japan

9. New Zealand

10. Papa New Guinea

11.Indonesia

12.Canada

13.Peru

14.Taiwan

15.Gautemala


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