It is 40,000 km (25,000 mi) horseshoe-shaped and is associated with a series of nearly continuous trenches, volcanic arcs, volcanic belts, and/or plate movements. It has 452 volcanoes and is home to more than 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes. It is sometimes referred to as the Pacific Rim Belt.
About 90% of the world's ** and 81% of the world's largest ** occur in the Ring of Fire region. The next most active region (5-6% and 17% of the world's largest**) is the Alpine belt, which stretches from Java to Sumatra, through the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, and all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the third largest ** zone.
The ring of fire is a direct result of plate tectonics and plate movements and collisions in the lithosphere. The eastern segment of the ring is the result of the subduction of the Nazca and Cocos plates beneath the South American plates that move westward.
The Cocos Plate is subducting beneath the Caribbean Plate in Central America. Part of the Pacific Plate, as well as the Juan de Fuca Plate, is subducting below the North American Plate. Along the north, the northwesterly Pacific plate is subducting below the Aleutian archipelago arc.
Further west, the Pacific plate is subducting along the Kamchatka arc in southern Japan. The southern region is more complex, with many smaller tectonic plates colliding with Pacific plates from the Mariana Islands, the Philippines, Bougainville, Tonga and New ZealandThis part does not include Australia because it is located in the center of its tectonic plate. Indonesia is located between the Ring of Fire belt of the northeastern islands bordering New Guinea and the Albid Belt in the south and west of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Flores and Timor.
California's well-known and very active San Andreas Fault Zone is a conversion fault that cancels out part of the Eastern Pacific Seamount below the southwestern United States and Mexico. The movement of the fault produces several small ** per day, most of which are too small to be felt.
The active Queen Charlotte Fault off the west coast of Haida Gwai, British Columbia, Canada, triggered three major ** events in the 20th century: a magnitude 7** occurred in 1929;In 1929 there was a level 7**;In 1929 there was a level 7**;In 1949 Richter 8Magnitude 1** (the largest ever recorded in Canada**) had a magnitude of 7 in 1970Level 4.