Explanation: What is the Pacific “Ring of Fire”?

Hongja Tonga-Hung Hapai volcano erupted over the weekend, sending ash and smoke thousands of feet into the air. The volcano, located on an uninhabited island, became active in 2009. It is located along the “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific Ocean, just over 60 kilometers from the island of Tonga.

The Pacific “Ring of Fire,” or Pacific Belt, is a region along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. It is home to about 75 percent of the world’s volcanoes – more than 450 volcanoes. Also, about 90 percent of earthquakes in the world occur here.

It is more than 40,000 km in length and its traces swing from New Zealand in an almost circular arc covering Tonga, the Kermadec Islands and Indonesia, through the Philippines and Japan and extending east to the Aleutian Islands, then south along the west coast of North America and South America.

The region lies along several tectonic plates including the Pacific Plate, Philippine Plate, Juan de Fuca Plate, Cocos Plate, Nazca Plate, and North American Plate. The movement of these plates or tectonic activity makes the region witness heavy earthquakes and tsunamis every year.

The volcanic arcs and oceanic trenches that partially surround the Pacific Basin form the so-called Ring of Fire. Trenches are shown in green and blue. Volcanic island arcs, although not marked, are parallel to trenches and almost always head inland. For example, the island arc associated with the Aleutian Trench is represented by a long chain of volcanoes that make up the Aleutian Islands. (Source: W. Jacqueline and Robert I. Tilling via USGS)

Along much of the Ring of Fire, tectonic plates move toward each other creating subduction zones. One plate is pushed down or subjected to by the other plate. This is a very slow process – movement of no more than one or two inches per year. When this subduction occurs, the rocks melt and turn into magma and move to the Earth’s surface and cause volcanic activity.

In the case of the Tonga, the Pacific Plate was pushed down the Indo-Australian Plate and the Tonga Plate, causing molten rock to rise above them and form a chain of volcanoes.

Subduction zones are also where the most violent earthquakes on the planet occur. The December 26, 2004 earthquake occurred along the subduction zone as the Indian plate slid under the Burma plate.

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