Pacific Ring of Fire facts for kids
The Pacific Ring of Fire is an arc around the Pacific Ocean where many volcanoes and earthquakes are formed. About three quarters of the world's dormant volcanos and active volcanos are here. The ring is 40,000km long, and there are 452 volcanoes.
About 90% of the world's earthquakes and 15% of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. The next most seismic region (5–6% of earthquakes and 17% of the world's largest earthquakes) is the Alpide belt, which extends from Java to Sumatra through the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, and out into the Atlantic. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the third most prominent earthquake belt.
The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics and the movement and collisions of crustal plates.
Cause
The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics: the movement and collisions of lithospheric plates. 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.
Images for kids
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Global map of subduction zones, with subducted slabs contoured by depth
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The tectonic plates of the Pacific Ocean in the Early Jurassic (180 Ma)
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Chilean-type and Mariana-type subduction zones
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Map of earthquake epicenters at the Kuril–Kamchatka trench and subduction zone
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Layers of phreatomagmatic tephra on Deception Island
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Llaima's 2008 eruption
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Lascar erupting in 2006
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Tungurahua erupting molten lava at night (1999)
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Crater of Poás volcano in Costa Rica, 2004
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Santiaguito Volcano, 2003 eruption in Guatemala
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Area of the Cascadia subduction zone, including the Cascade Volcanic Arc (red triangles)
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American Cascade Range volcano eruptions in the last 4000 years
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Map of young volcanoes in Western Canada
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The Mount Meager massif as seen from the east near Pemberton, British Columbia: Summits left to right are Capricorn Mountain, Mount Meager, and Plinth Peak.
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Kambalny, an active volcano in the Kamchatka Peninsula
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Mount Fuji at sunrise from Lake Kawaguchi
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Map showing major volcanoes of the Philippines
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Mayon Volcano overlooks a pastoral scene about five months before the volcano's violent eruption in September 1984.
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Major volcanoes in Indonesia
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Papua New Guinea and tectonic plates: Pacific Plate, Australian Plate, Caroline Plate, Banda Sea Plate (as "Mer de Banda"), Woodlark Plate, Bird's Head Plate, Maoke Plate, Solomon Sea Plate, North Bismarck Plate, South Bismarck Plate and Manus Plate (in French)
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Volcanic eruption at West Mata submarine volcano between Samoa and Tonga, 2010
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Major volcanoes of New Zealand
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View of Mount Taranaki from Stratford
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See also
In Spanish: Cinturón de fuego del Pacífico para niños
