Friday, April 19, 2019

RING OF FIRE - 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. 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. With 452 volcanoes, the Ring of Fire has some that are more famous that others.

Map of the Pacific Ring of Fire
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Ring of Fire
Home to the Majority of the World's Active Volcanoes
USGS
by

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.

Major Volcanoes in the Ring of Fire

With 452 volcanoes, the Ring of Fire has some that are more famous that others. The following is a listing of major volcanoes in the Ring of Fire.
·       The Andes — Running 5,500 miles (8,900 km) north and south along the western edge of South America, the Andes Mountains are the longest, continental mountain range in the world. The Andean Volcanic Belt is within the mountain range and is broken up into four volcanic zones that include such active volcanoes as Cotopaxi and Cerro Azul. It is also home to the highest, active volcano — Ojos del Salado.
·       Popocatepetl — Popocatepetl is an active volcano in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Located near Mexico City, this volcano is considered by many to be the most dangerous in the world since a large eruption could potentially kill millions of people.
·       Mt. Saint Helens — The Cascade Mountains in the United States' Pacific Northwest hosts the 800 mile (1,300 km) Cascade Volcanic Arc. The Cascades contain 13 major volcanoes and nearly 3,000 other volcanic features. The most recent eruption in the Cascades occurred at Mt. Saint Helens in 1980.
·       Aleutian Islands -- Alaska's Aleutian Islands, which consist of 14 large and 55 small islands, were made from volcanic activity. The Aleutians contain 52 volcanoes, with a few of the most active being Cleveland, Okmok, and Akutan. The deep Aleutian Trench, which also sits next to the islands, has been created at the subduction zone with a maximum depth of 25,194 feet (7679 meters).
·       Mt. Fuji — Located on the Japanese island of Honshu, Mt. Fuji, at 12,380 feet (3,776 m), is the tallest mountain in Japan and the world's most visited mountain. However, Mt. Fuji is more than a mountain, it is an active volcano that last erupted in 1707.
·       Krakatoa — In the Indonesia Island Arc sits Krakatoa, remembered for its massive eruption on August 27, 1883 that killed 36,000 people and was heard 2,800 miles away (it is considered the loudest sound in modern history). The Indonesian Island Arc is also home to Mt. Tambora, whose eruption on April 10, 1815 was the largest in major history, being calculated as a 7 on the Volcanic Explosion Index (VEI).
·       Mt. Ruapehu — Rising to 9,177 feet (2797 m), Mt. Ruapehu is the tallest mountain on the North Island of New Zealand. Located in the southern section of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, Mt. Ruapehu is New Zealand's most active volcano.
As a place that produces most of the world's volcanic activity and earthquakes, the Ring of Fire is a fascinating place.
Understanding more about the Ring of Fire and being able to accurately predict volcanic eruptions and earthquakes may help eventually save millions of lives.


Matt Rosenberg

·   Award-winning professional geographer
·   Author of two books on geographyExperience
Matt Rosenberg is a former writer for ThoughtCo. He covered geography for ThoughtCo and About.com for over 20 years. He was an adjunct professor of geography at California State University, Sacramento, a city planning and GIS intern for local government, and is a former newspaper columnist.
Rosenberg has been featured on PBS and NPR, and he has conducted many interviews about geographical topics for television, radio, and newspapers. He was director of emergency services for the American Red Cross and served on more than two dozen major disaster relief operations around the United States. He has traveled widely across North America and has visited or studied in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He is a member of the Association of American Geographers and the National Council for Geographic Education.Education
Matt Rosenberg holds a bachelor's degree in geography from the University of California, Davis and a master's degree in geography from California State University, Northridge. Publications
·   "The Handy Geography Answer Book" (Barnes & Noble, 2004)
·   "The Geography Bee Complete Preparation Handbook" (Three Rivers Press, 2002)

Awards

·   Excellence in Media Award, National Council for Geographic Education, October 2006ThoughtCo and Dotdash
ThoughtCo is a premier reference site focusing on expert-created education content. We are one of the top-10 information sites in the world as rated by comScore, a leading Internet measurement company. Every month, more than 13 million readers seek answers to their questions on ThoughtCo.
For more than 20 years, Dotdash brands have been helping people find answers, solve problems, and get inspired. We are one of the top-20 largest content publishers on the Internet according to comScore, and reach more than 30% of the U.S. population monthly. Our brands collectively have won more than 20 industry awards in the last year alone, and recently Dotdash was named Publisher of the Year by Digiday, a leading industry publication.https://www.thoughtco.com/ring-of-fire-1433460

Map of the Pacific Ring of Fire

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