Ring of Fire & Earth's Destructive Forces

Discover the Ring of Fire! Learn about volcanoes, earthquakes, and tectonic plates in this science worksheet.

Ring of Fire basics Watch the video to help you become familiar and fill in the blanks in the paragraph below. After watching the video answer the questions below. There are approximately 10-20volcanoes erupting around the world at any given time. The Ring of Fire includes 40,000 kilometers and is where most of the worlds earthquakes and tsunamis take place. The Ring of Fire is the result of tectonic platescrashing into each other. The plates in the Pacific are moving faster than in other areas. The Pacific plate is moving Northwest crashing into the North American Plate, this explains all the volcanoes along this convergent boundary. The San Andres Fault is on a transform boundary and this explains all the earthquakes that occur in that area. Scientist can monitor changes around volcanoes and fault lines but they cannot accurately predict when a volcano will erupt or earthquake will occur. However, geologists can use history and trends to estimate when they are likely to occur in a given area. The Ring of Fire Click on the link and read the article. Use the information to fill the missing words into the paragraph below. Ring of Fire Fill in the blanks below using the link above. Spelling and capitalization counts!! The Ring of Fireis the region surrounding the Pacific Ocean known for its large number of volcanoes and earthquakes.The Ring of Fire is home to over 450 volcanoes and about 90% of all earthquakes. Geographically, it follows the rim of the Pacific Ocean. Its path includes the west coasts of South America and North America. It curves across the northern Pacific by the Aleutian Islands. Then, it continues down along Japan and New Zealand. In all, the Ring of Fire covers over 25,000 miles .The Ring of Fire owes its volcanoes and earthquakes to its active tectonic plate margins. It follows the boundaries of several tectonic plates, the largest of which is the Pacific Plate. The Ring of Fire also boarders several smaller plates including the Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Nazca, and Philippine plates.The large levels of volcanoes and earthquakes are due to the significant number of subduction zones, in which a more dense plate moves under a less dense plate. This type of convergent plate boundary more commonly occurs when oceanic crust slides under continental crust. The pressure created as the plates move together results in increased earthquake activity. Click on the interactive map and check the boxes for Earthquakes, Plates, and Volcano's. Hot Spots Video Earth's volcanic 'hot spots' are in constant motion Click on the link and use this resource and the video to answer the questions below. Hot spots Using the word bank fill in the blanks (Spelling and capitalization counts!!) Most volcanic activity happens along plate boundaries, however other areas where abnormally hot upwellings of magma plumes reach the surface are known as hot spots. Although we are unable to actually witness this occurrence and the process behind it within the Earth's lithosphere, they are able to infer based on scientific data, observations, and trends. The most active hot spots include those beneath Yellowstone, the Galapagos Islands, Iceland, and Hawaii.An iconic illustration of this idea that hot spots stay fixed while the plates slid over them is evident in the chain of islands that make up Hawaii. Researchers believed an assembly line-like process created the Hawaiian Islands: an island would form over a hot spot, the motion of the plate would move the island off the hot spot, and the hot spot would remain in place and generate a new island on the unaltered piece of crust that had moved over the hot spot.Scientists collected samples of rocks and sediment via scientific ocean drilling in Hawaii’s Emperor Seamounts, which are undersea, extinct volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. By studying the magnetism locked in the ancient samples—a field known as paleomagnetism—the researchers determined that the hot spot beneath Hawaii was not fixed but had moved. This supports the theory that the mantle is constantly churning and shifting from convection currents.Despite this evidence, however, controversy over the fixity of hot spots continued. Why is there more than one island in hot spot island chains? The diagram is an over exaggeration of what really happens. There would actually only be one island. As the plate moves away from the hot spot more material is pushed up to start a new island. Millions of years ago there was only one large land mass, over time the water has eroded the land into small islands. Millions of years ago there was only one large land mass, over time the movement of plates has broken the land into small islands.