What is the Pacific Ring of Fire and why is it the cause of the Taiwan earthquake?

This Wednesday morning, April 3, at Taiwana country located within the Fire belttook place on earthquake of greater magnitude in the last 25 years.

With a magnitude of 7.4 it damaged buildings, killed at least seven people and left more than 700 injured.

In this context, both Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines have issued tsunami warning for its coastal areas as waves of up to three meters are expected. However, these warnings already existed lifted up.

As we anticipated, all these countries are part of the so-called Pacific Ring of Firea series of geological faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean and where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.

What is the Pacific Ring of Fire?

He Pacific Ring of Fire It is a geographic area that extends along the edge of the Pacific Ocean and includes a large number of countries and territories, including the western coast of the Pacific Ocean. North and South Americaas well as Asia and Oceania.

As described in an article by National Geographicit is a long tectonic chain of 40 thousand kilometerslocated in the Pacific Ocean, which is shaped like a horseshoe and is characterized by having a great seismic and volcanic activity.

90 percent of the planet’s seismic activity takes place here and the vast majority of the world’s active volcanoes are concentrated here (75%), hence the name of this plate which bears the word fire.

This area is the result of collision of multiple tectonic plateswhich makes them rub together and generate seismic movements and volcanic eruptions.

In detail it is characterized by being an area of subduction, a term for when one tectonic plate sinks beneath another. In subduction zones, earthquakes can occur up to 670 kilometers deepwhich is where the upper mantle ends, clarifies the specialized environment.

But in addition to earthquakes and volcanoes, the Ring of Fire is also subject to other natural disasters such as tsunamis and landslides.

Why does this happen What happens is that the bed of the Pacific sits on several tectonic plates that are in constant friction and movement, which causes them to accumulate tension and release energy. And this is what it produces earthquakes in countries within the Ring of Fire.

Which countries are in the Ring of Fire

The Ring of Fire marks the limit of many main platesincluding the Pacific Plate, the South American Plate, the Nazca Plate, the North American Plate, the Philippine Plate, and the Australian Plate.

Some of the countries that are part of this zone are Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, United States, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, among others.

In case of Taiwanin particular, it is located at the limit of convergence between the Eurasian and Philippine plates. For this reason, the island experiences a high level of seismic activity due to the subduction of the Philippine Plate under the Eurasian Plate.