The Ring of Fire is the path along the Pacific Ocean where the most active volcanoes are found. It is a given fact that the earth is active all the time as major tectonic plates in the earth's crust are going over or under, into the earth's molten crust.
It results in volcanic activity in the Pacific Ring of Fire as the tectonic activity is constant and always active. Under the pacific, even underwater volcanoes are active, with the seafloor moving or building up islands as basaltic deposits.
Active volcanoes
On the island of Java, Mount Merapi has let loose hot gas clouds, which Indonesia's Geology and Volcanology Research Agency warned of. The safest distance from the volcano is 1.6 miles from it, those in the cities of Yogyakarta and Solo should be careful.
During the eruption of Mount Merapi, it sent a 3.7-mile-high ash column up into the sky, prompting the evac of the airport in the close by Solo city, in the heavily populated Java island.
In 2010, one of Indonesia's most active volcano erupted several times in 2010 and taking 350 lives as a result.
A red alert is raised as the Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation is declared while the ash cloud is moving northward. Volcanic ash can foul up jet engines if it sucked in, and it might cause a crash.
Activel keeping people out of the area is the local disaster mitigation agency that warns everyone not to crossover the 3-kilometer exclusion zone around Mt.Merapi
Ring of fire: How much activity is there now?
On earth, this region called The Ring of Fire is constantly active for millions of years from the initial breakup from the Supercontinent Pangaea.
Today, it is an active volcanic belt with a total length of 25,000-miles that runs deep into the Pacific Ocean. The length of The Ring of Fire is composed of undersea trenches, volcanic arcs and belts, and constant tectonic plate movements.
Along this corridor are 452 volcanoes where the most powerful volcanic eruptions took place.
It is a fact that constant volcanic and tectonic movement create 90% of all earthquakes in the Ring of Fire. At this point, the continental or tectonic plates fuse like a jigsaw puzzle (earth's crust).
At this fusing point in the jigsaw of earth's crust, many volcanoes are created by crashing edges of tectonic plates. When either one of the plates goes under another tectonic plate, it becomes a subduction zone.
Scattered around the world are 1,500 active volcanoes that are responsible for the majority of earthquakes.
According to volcanologists, 75% of these active volcanoes lie along the Pacific Ring of Fire which has this distinction. Below is the map showing which volcanoes are active today.
Other volcanoes along the ring of fire
The largest volcano in Hawaii's Mauna Loa and has been active for 700,000 years. The last explosion was in 1984.
Next is Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which blew its top in 2010. The ash cloud was so great that it spread far and wide, even shutting down global air traffic.
Another active volcano is Mt. Vesuvius which is near 9-kilometers shy of Naples in Italy, one of the world's biggest populations. It has been acting up again, so scientists fear an eruption anytime soon.
Other volcanoes like Congo's Mount Nyiragongo, had 32 eruptions from1882. Its lava lake has erratic fluxing at levels. Notable volcanoes are Taal in the Philippines, Colombia's Galeras volcano, Japan's Sakurajima volcano, Santa Maria Volcano.
