RAS question
The Ring of Fire is located around:
Correct answer: (D) Pacific Ocean.
The Ring of Fire, also called the Circum-Pacific Belt, is located around the Pacific Ocean.
Explanation
The Ring of Fire is the Pacific Ocean's great belt of volcanoes and earthquake zones. NOAA describes it as a string of underwater volcanoes and earthquake sites around the edges of the Pacific Ocean, and notes that it runs in a horseshoe shape rather than as a perfect ring. This Circum-Pacific Belt is an area of intense seismic and volcanic activity, associated with about 75% of the world's active volcanoes and 90% of earthquakes. NOAA also explains the mechanism: much of this activity occurs along subduction zones, where one tectonic plate is pushed beneath another, producing magma, volcanoes, ocean trenches and deep earthquakes.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The Indian Ocean is not the ocean encircled by the Circum-Pacific Belt; the Ring of Fire follows the edges of the Pacific Ocean.
- (B) The Atlantic Ocean is outside the Pacific-edge volcano and earthquake belt identified as the Ring of Fire.
- (C) The Arctic Ocean is not the horseshoe-shaped zone of active volcanoes and earthquake sites described around the Pacific.
Concept
This tests plate tectonics and world physiography, especially the link between ocean margins, subduction zones, volcanoes and earthquakes. RAS repeats it because the Ring of Fire is a standard example connecting physical geography with seismic and volcanic hazards.