<P> The Ring of Fire is a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur . In a 40,000 km (25,000 mi) horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and plate movements . It has 452 volcanoes (more than 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes). The Ring of Fire is sometimes called the circum - Pacific belt . </P> <P> About 90% of the world's earthquakes and 81% of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire . All but three of the world's 25 largest volcanic eruptions of the last 11,700 years occurred at volcanoes in the Ring of Fire . The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics: the movement and collisions of lithospheric plates, especially subduction in the northern portion . The southern portion is more complex, with a number of smaller tectonic plates in collision with the Pacific plate from the Mariana Islands, the Philippines, Bougainville, Tonga, and New Zealand . </P>

Very geologically active region with many earthquakes and volcanoes