Where Is the Ring of Fire?

The Pacific Ring of Fire traces the boundaries of several tectonic plates — the Pacific, Nazca, Cocos, Philippine Sea, and Juan de Fuca plates — as they interact with surrounding continental plates. Stretching from New Zealand, along the eastern edge of Asia, north across the Aleutian Islands, and down the western coasts of North and South America, it hosts about 75% of the world active and dormant volcanoes (approximately 450) and generates about 90% of the world earthquakes. This intense activity results from subduction, where dense oceanic plates dive beneath lighter continental plates, melting rock that rises as magma.