The Ring of Fire

geology · volcanoes · earthquakes · planet Earth

Covers the Pacific rim. The Ring of Fire stretches about 40,000 kilometers around the Pacific Ocean, touching countries like Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, and the western coasts of North and South America.

Home to most volcanoes. About 75 percent of the world's active volcanoes are found along the Ring of Fire, making it the planet's most volcanically active region.

Shaking ground constantly. The Ring of Fire also produces about 90 percent of the world's earthquakes because the tectonic plates are sliding, colliding, and grinding against each other along this zone.

Plates colliding together. The earthquakes and volcanoes happen where Pacific Ocean plates are crashing into and sliding beneath the continental plates around the rim, releasing enormous amounts of heat and energy.

Most dangerous zone. Because so many people live near volcanoes and earthquake zones in the Ring of Fire, like in Japan and California, it is the area on Earth where the most tectonic disasters occur.