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) is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes.
It is about 40,000 km (25,000 mi) long and up to about 500 km (310 mi) wide, and surrounds most of the Pacific Ocean.
The Hakkōda Mountains (八甲田山系, Hakkōda-sankei) are an active volcanic complex in south-central Aomori Prefecture, Japan, in Towada-Hachimantai National Park. Often called Mount Hakkōda (八甲田山, Hakkōda-san) or simply Hakkōda (八甲田), the mountains are collectively listed as one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains. Its highest peak, Mount Ōdake, lies 21.3 kilometers (13.2 mi) southeast of central Aomori and 28 kilometers (17 mi) west of central Towada and has an elevation of 1,585 meters (5,200 ft). The Hakkōda Mountains are a part of the Ōu Mountains which make up part of the Northeastern Japan Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The volcanic complex consists of fourteen stratovolcanoes and lava domes arranged into two volcanic groups. The Northern Hakkōda Volcanic Group emerges from the rim of an 8-kilometer-wide (5.0 mi) caldera that dates back to the Pleistocene. The Southern Hakkōda Volcanic Group predates the caldera.
The Hakkōda Mountains attract many climbers, skiers, and sightseers. The mountains offer extensive backcountry skiing in the winter and early spring. There is a lift, the Hakkōda Ropeway in the northern Hakkōda Mountains used by visitors year-round and several hiking trails cross the mountains. While the trails do not pose any technical climbing challenges, Hakkōda presents dangers such as volcanic gases, harsh winter weather, and avalanches. The most notable incident in mountains' history was the Hakkōda Mountains disaster, the worst mountaineering accident in modern history.
The Northeastern Japan Arc, also Northeastern Honshū Arc, is an island arc on the Pacific Ring of Fire. The arc runs north to south along the Tōhoku region of Honshū, Japan. It is the result of the subduction of the Pacific plate underneath the Okhotsk plate at the Japan Trench. The southern end of the arc converges with the Southwestern Japan Arc and the Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc at the Fossa Magna (ja) at the east end of the Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line (ITIL). This is the geologic border between eastern and western Honshū. Mount Fuji is at the point where these three arcs meet. To the north, the Northeastern Japan arc extends through the Oshima Peninsula of Hokkaidō. The arc converges in a collision zone with the Sakhalin Island Arc and the Kuril Island Arc in the volcanic Ishikari Mountains of central Hokkaidō. This collision formed the Teshio and Yūbari Mountains.
The Ōu Mountains form the backbone of the volcanic part of the inner arc that run from Natsudomari Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture south to Mount Nikkō-Shirane in Tochigi and Gunma prefectures. The volcanic front consists of four north to south lines of Quaternary volcanoes and calderas, which extend the length of the range. It also includes the Quaternary volcanoes of southwestern Hokkaido. The Dewa Mountains and the Iide Mountains are non-volcanic uplift ranges that run parallel to the west of the Ōu Mountains.
Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the local Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It lies 52 miles (83 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon, and 98 miles (158 km) south of Seattle. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from that of the British diplomat Alleyne FitzHerbert, 1st Baron St Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver who surveyed the area in the late 18th century. The volcano is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The Mount St. Helens major eruption of May 18, 1980, is currently the most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. Fifty-seven people were killed and 200 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche, triggered by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake, caused a lateral eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 to 8,363 ft (2,950 to 2,549 m), leaving a 1-mile-wide (1.6 km) horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was 0.6 cubic miles (2.5 km) in volume. The 1980 eruption disrupted terrestrial ecosystems near the volcano. By contrast, aquatic ecosystems in the area greatly benefited from the amounts of ash, allowing life to multiply rapidly. Six years after the eruption, most lakes in the area had returned to their normal state.
The North Island Volcanic Plateau (often called the Central Plateau and occasionally the Waimarino Plateau) is a volcanic plateau covering much of central North Island of New Zealand with volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes. It contains the Taupō caldera complex, Ōkataina caldera complex and Tongariro Volcanic Centre resulting in it being currently the most frequently active and productive area of silicic volcanism on Earth. New Zealand is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Volcanoes in Mexico form a significant part of the country's geological landscape, with numerous active and extinct volcanoes primarily located along the central-southern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The diverse array of volcanic features in Mexico includes stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, cinder cones, lava domes, and calderas.
Many of Mexico's volcanoes are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region characterized by frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Notable volcanoes include Popocatépetl, one of the country's most active and dangerous volcanoes, Pico de Orizaba (Citlaltépetl), the highest peak in Mexico, and Parícutin, a cinder cone volcano that famously emerged from a cornfield in 1943.Volcanoes play a significant role in Mexico's geography, climate, and culture, influencing local ecosystems, agriculture, and human settlements. The volcanic activity also poses hazards to surrounding communities, necessitating ongoing monitoring and disaster preparedness efforts.
Volcán Atitlán (Spanish pronunciation: [atiˈtlan]) is a large, conical, active stratovolcano adjacent to the caldera of Lake Atitlán in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas range. It is within the Sololá Department, in southwestern Guatemala.
The volcano has been quite active historically, with more than a dozen eruptions recorded between 1469 and 1853, the date of its most recent eruption. Atitlán is part of the Central American Volcanic Arc. The arc is a chain of volcanoes stretching along Central America formed by subduction of the Cocos Plate underneath the Caribbean Plate. These volcanoes are part of the Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean.
Kamaʻehuakanaloa Seamount (previously known as Lōʻihi) is an active submarine volcano about 22 mi (35 km) off the southeast coast of the island of Hawaii. The top of the seamount is about 3,200 ft (975 m) below sea level. This seamount is on the flank of Mauna Loa, the largest active subaerial shield volcano on Earth. Kamaʻehuakanaloa is the newest volcano in the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, a string of volcanoes that stretches about 3,900 mi (6,200 km) northwest of Kamaʻehuakanaloa. Unlike most active volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean that make up the active plate margins on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Kamaʻehuakanaloa and the other volcanoes of the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain are hotspot volcanoes and formed well away from the nearest plate boundary. Volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands arise from the Hawaii hotspot, and as the youngest volcano in the chain, Kamaʻehuakanaloa is the only Hawaiian volcano in the deep submarine preshield stage of development.
Kamaʻehuakanaloa began forming around 400,000 years ago and is expected to begin emerging above sea level about 10,000–100,000 years from now. At its summit, Kamaʻehuakanaloa Seamount stands more than 10,000 ft (3,000 m) above the seafloor, making it taller than Mount St. Helens was before its catastrophic 1980 eruption. A diverse microbial community resides around Kamaʻehuakanaloa many hydrothermal vents.