GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Plate Tectonics Most volcanoes form at the boundaries of Earth’s tectonic plates. These plates are huge slabs of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle, which fit together like pieces of a puzzle. These plates are not fixed, but are constantly moving at a very slow rate. They move only a few centimeters per year.

Detailed explanation-2: -Volcanoes are not randomly distributed over the Earth’s surface. Most are concentrated on the edges of continents, along island chains, or beneath the sea forming long mountain ranges.

Detailed explanation-3: -Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur because of the movement of the plates, especially as plates interact at their edges or boundaries. At diverging plate boundaries, earthquakes occur as the plates pull away from each other.

Detailed explanation-4: -Intraplate volcanism. The 5 percent of known volcanoes in the world that are not closely related to plate margins are generally regarded as intraplate, or “hot-spot, ” volcanoes.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Ring of Fire, also referred to as the Circum-Pacific Belt, is a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. The majority of Earth’s volcanoes and earthquakes take place along the Ring of Fire.