The ring of fire or the rim of fire is a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes occur. In a large 40,000kmhorseshoe 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.
About 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 81% of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along the ring of fire. About 88% (22 out of 25) of the world’s largest volcanic eruptions in the last 11,700 years occurred at volcanoes in the ring of fire.
The ring of fire is a direct result of plate tectonics. The movement and collision of lithospheric plates, especially subduction in the northern portion. The western 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.
The presence of a belt of volcanic activity surrounding the Pacific Ocean was first observed in the mid-19th century.
