Ring of Fire

Ring of Fire

The ring of fire is an area prone to have earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. 90% of the earth's earthquakes happen in this area and 81% of the largest earthquakes happen here. Indonesia has had 17% of earthquakes recorded to date.

The Ring of Fire stretches about 40,000 KM mostly in the pacific ocean and it resembles a horseshoe shape. It is also associated with a series of Oceanic Trenches, Volcanic Arcs and Volcanic belts (more on that in another post).

The Ring of Fire is a direct result and consequences of plate tectonics and the movement and collisions of the crustal plates.

As a matter of fact, there are 35 countries as part of the Ring of Fire. Surprisingly neither India nor China is there; likewise neither Europe nor Africa either.

What is striking to me is the absence of Australia from this list - see map above

Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillipines, Brunei , Japan, East Timor , Micronesia, Kiribati, Samoa, Soloman Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, New Zealand, Russia, United States, Palau, Canada, Belize, Gautemala, Panama, El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil and Peru are some prominent countries in the Ring of Fire.