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Ring of Fire
Hannah Davidson, Heather Hammond,
Katie Kittle
Plate Tectonics
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Earth’s outer shell, the lithosphere, is divided into eight
large shifting plates and a number of smaller ones
The plates are spreading apart, sliding past each other, or
colliding with each other in slow motion on top of the
Earth's hot, pliable interior
3 types of tectonic plate boundaries:
◦ Divergent: adjacent plates pull apart
◦ Convergent: plates move toward each other, also known as subduction
◦ Transform: plate slides horizontally past another
Earthquakes & Volcanoes
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The buildup of stress by moving plates leads to a sudden
break in rocks, a fault, and finally causes a
shaking/trembling of the ground or earthquake.
The movement generates at the focus point and sends out
seismic waves in all directions.
Volcanism has 4 principal settings:
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Along divergent plate boundaries
Areas of continental extension
Along converging plate boundaries where subduction is occurring
In "hot spots" that are usually located in the interior of plates
Pacific Ring of Fire
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40, 000 km long
Also known as the Circum Pacific Belt
90% of the world’s earthquakes and 81% of world’s largest
earthquakes
75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes