The “Ring of Fire” extends along the west coast of America, the islands of the South Pacific and Southeast Asia.
It concentrates the vast majority of active volcanoes in the world (75%), hence the name of this plaque bears the word fire.
The Pacific Ring of Fire is a long tectonic chain of 40 thousand kilometers in the shape of a horseshoe that maintains constant seismic and volcanic activity. In this area, which includes the American countries bathed by the Pacific Ocean, in addition to several Asian countries that descend through the Indian Ocean, 90 percent of the planet’s seismic activity occurs.
Also called the Ring of Fire, 90 percent of the planet’s seismic activity occurs in this horseshoe and it concentrates many active volcanoes. The most recent eruption lasted 8 minutes and occurred in the kingdom of Tonga, with the roars of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano measuring about 20 km in diameter, by 1,800 meters high that are essentially submerged.
The floor of the Pacific Ocean sits on several tectonic plates that are in permanent friction and movement, so they accumulate tension and need to release energy, which causes earthquakes in the countries that are above the belt zone.
It is characterized by being a subduction zone, a term used to define when one tectonic plate sinks under another. In subduction zones, earthquakes can occur up to 670 kilometers deep, which is where the upper mantle ends.
How far from Ecuador is Tonga, the kingdom where an eruption generated a tsunami alert on the Pacific coast
It is made up of a series of geological faults in the upper layers of the earth’s crust, which are the meeting points of the great continental plates that literally float on the lava of the earth’s core.
This energy is released with volcanic eruptions, when lava is ejected through fissures in the crust, or with earthquakes, when pressure causes the crust to twist.
Most earthquakes are soft and occur under the sea, where most of the continental plate edges are, but occasionally volcanic explosions, earthquakes and landslides are generated.
In this area, the plates of the earth’s crust sink several centimeters per year and they accumulate enormous tensions that are released in the form of earthquakes. The Ring of Fire marks the boundary of many major plates, including the Pacific plate, the South American Plate, the Nazca Plate, the North American plate, the philippines license plate and the Australian license plate.
Ecuador is a country constantly affected by movements of the Nazca and South American plates. The oceanic Nazca pushes and slides under the continental (South American) plate. The subduction phenomenon is also responsible for the volcanic activity in Ecuador, since it causes the fusion of part of the terrestrial mantle, generating magma that rises to the surface.
Countries that make up the Ring of Fire
National Geographic remember the countries through which the Pacific Ring of Fire passes.
This extensive tectonic chain covers four main territories: North America, Central America, South America, Asia and Oceania.
North America: it stretches along the west coast of Mexico, the United States, and Canada, continues to Alaska, and joins Asia in the North Pacific.
Central America: touches the territories of Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize.
South America: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, almost all of Chile and some parts of Argentina.
Asia: It covers the east coast of Russia and continues through other Asian countries such as Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
Oceania: the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Samoa and New Zealand. (I)
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