Ring of Fire

The Ring of Fire is a string of volcanoes and sites of seismic activity, or earthquakes, around the
edges of the Pacific Ocean. It isn’t quite a circular ring. It is shaped more like a 40,000-kilometer
(25,000-mile) horseshoe. Roughly 90% of all earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire, and the
ring is dotted with 75% of all active volcanoes on Earth. A string of 452 volcanoes stretches from
the southern tip of South America, up along the coast of North America, across the Bering Strait,
down through Japan, and into New Zealand. Several active and dormant volcanoes in Antarctica,
however, “close” the ring.
The Ring of Fire is largely a result of plate tectonics, where the massive Pacific Plate interacts
with less-dense plates surrounding it. Deep ocean trenches and high mountain ranges are also part
of the Ring of Fire.

Earthquake Fault
fault, or a fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there is significant
displacement. Along the line where the Earth and the fault plane meet, is what is known as a fault
line.
On Earth, they are the result of activity with plate tectonics, the largest of which takes place at
the plate boundaries. Energy released by the rapid movement on active faults is what causes most
earthquakes in the world today.
Since faults do not usually consist of a single, clean fracture, geologists use the term “fault zone”
when referring to the area where complex deformation is associated with the fault plane. The two
sides of a non-vertical fault are known as the “hanging wall” and “footwall”. By definition, the
hanging wall occurs above the fault and the footwall occurs below the fault.
There are three different types of faults: Normal, Reverse, and Transcurrent (Strike-Slip).
Normal faults form when the hanging wall drops down. The forces that create normal faults are
pulling the sides apart, or extensional.
Reverse faults form when the hanging wall moves up. The forces creating reverse faults are
compressional, pushing the sides together.
Transcurrent or Strike-slip faults have walls that move sideways, not up or down.

Theory of tectonic plates

Plate tectonics is a theory that was first proposed in the early 1900s by scientist Alfred Wegener,
but was not said to be true until the 1960s.
It states that Earth's outer shell is made up of many different plates, all which glide over top the
Earth's mantle. The plates are found in the lithosphere. Also known as continental drift, the theory
of plate tectonics is the reasoning behind why and how continents are constantly moving.
The movement of continents is caused by what's happening beneath Earth's crust. Seismic waves,
which are waves of energy that occur when tectonic plates push against each other and pull apart,
cause rock within the Earth to suddenly break, causing disruption and in some cases, even
explosion or volcanoes. Seismologist Nicolas Van der Elst describes the process as "…a pot
boiling on a stove
Seismograph
Seismograph, instrument that makes a record of seismic waves caused by an earthquake,
explosion, or other Earth-shaking phenomenon. Seismographs are equipped with electromagnetic
sensors that translate ground motions into electrical changes, which are processed and recorded by
the instruments’ analog or digital circuits. The terms seismograph and seismometer are often used
interchangeably; however, whereas both devices may detect and measure seismic waves, only a
seismograph possesses the capacity to record the phenomena. A record produced by a seismograph
on a display screen or paper printout is called a seismogram.