What Is the Pacific Ring of Fire? Understanding the Earth's Most Active Volcanic Zone

The Ring of Fire is a series of volcanoes and areas of seismic activity, or earthquakes, that are situated around the edges of the Pacific Ocean. Made up of over 450 volcanoes, the Ring of Fire is 25,000 miles long in a horseshoe shape from South America to New Zealand. The geological path was created as a result of plate tectonics and is responsible for 90% of earthquakes and 75% of volcanic activity. Much of the volcanic activity occurs along the subduction zones where two tectonic plates come together and collide. The heavier plate is shoved, or subducted, under the other plate, which causes magma to be produced and pushed up through the surface in the form of a volcano. These subduction zones, or plate boundaries, are also where the Earth's deepest ocean trenches are located and earthquakes occur. An earthquake is formed when two plates scrape each other while one of the plates is subducted under the other plate and bent downwards.