ABSTRACT
Volcanoes do not erupt everywhere. They are restricted to narrow bands in very specific locations (Fig. 3.1). The Pacific Ocean is virtually surrounded by a belt of volcanoes commonly called the “Pacific Ring of Fire” which contains about twothirds of the world’s active volcanoes. The “Ring of Fire” is marked by the volcanic chains of Japan, Kamchatka, South Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, the Cascade Range of the United States and Canada, Central America, the Andes, New Zealand, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua-New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and finally the Mariana, Izu and Bonin Islands, which complete the circle.
