OCEAN · TECTONIC RIDGES & THE RING OF FIRE

Tectonic Ridges & the Ring of Fire

The two engines of plate tectonics on one map — the complete global network of tectonic plate boundaries (the real, digitised PB2002 model), from the mid-ocean spreading ridges where new seafloor is born (the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the fast East Pacific Rise, the Indian Ocean ridges) to the subduction zones where crust is destroyed; and, picked out in bold, the Pacific Ring of Fire — the horseshoe of subduction zones around the Pacific rim, derived directly from the boundary dataset, where about 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 75% of its active volcanoes occur. The WHY behind Earth’s live quakes and volcanoes.