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: Active volcanoes Global map of subduction zones, with subducted slabs contoured by depth Diagram of the geological process of subduction. The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) [note 1] is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes.
The subduction process causes bending of the down going plate, creating a deep trench. Continuing movement on the subduction zone associated with the Japan Trench is one of the main causes of tsunamis and earthquakes in northern Japan, including the megathrust TÅhoku earthquake and resulting tsunami that occurred on 11 March 2011.
In the 1980s, geophysicists Tom Heaton and Hiroo Kanamori of Caltech compared the generally quiet Cascadia to more active subduction zones elsewhere in the Ring of Fire. They found similarities to faults in Chile, Alaska, and Japan's Nankai Trough , locations known for megathrust earthquakes , a conclusion that was met with skepticism from ...
The New Britain subduction zone is one of the most recently formed and most active subduction zones on earth, producing great earthquakes (magnitude 8.1 or greater), with potential for tsunami hazard, and being associated with active volcanism, [3] as part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. [4]
The Ring of Fire is also known for its frequent earthquakes. The volcanoes and earthquakes arise from a common source: subduction. [2] Beneath the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a dense oceanic plate sinks beneath the North American Plate; a process known as subduction.
Subduction zone physics: Sinking of the oceanic lithosphere (sediments, crust, mantle), by the contrast of density between the cold and old lithosphere and the hot asthenospheric mantle wedge, is the strongest force (but not the only one) needed to drive plate motion and is the dominant mode of mantle convection. [citation needed]
The Ring of Fire is named after the several hundred active volcanoes that sit above the various subduction zones. In 2009, the deepest undersea eruption ever recorded occurred at the West Mata submarine volcano , a mile beneath the ocean, close to the Tonga - Kermadec Trench , within the Ring of Fire; [ 17 ] it was filmed by the US Jason ...
Obduction zones occurs when the continental plate is pushed under the oceanic plate, but this is unusual as the relative densities of the tectonic plates favours subduction of the oceanic plate. This causes the oceanic plate to buckle and usually results in a new mid-ocean ridge forming and turning the obduction into subduction. [citation needed]