What is the Pacific Ring of Fire? The explanation behind the recent earthquakes in the world – Venezuela, Japan, Peru – tdpe

The Pacific Ring of Fire is once again at the center of world attention after a series of recent seismic movements recorded in different parts of the planet. In recent hours, several tremors have been reported in this area of ​​high geological activity, highlighting those that occurred in Venezuela and Japan, which has raised alerts about the constant seismic instability in this strip of the Pacific Ocean. These events reaffirm that the so-called “Ring of Fire” concentrates a large part of the world’s earthquakes and keeps the countries located in its surroundings under permanent surveillance.

“90% of all earthquakes in the world and 80% of the largest earthquakes occur in the Pacific Ring of Fire”, explained in a previous interview with BBC Mundo the executive president of the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP), Hernando Taveras.

The bed of the Pacific Ocean rests on several tectonic plates and “the fact that seismic activity is intense in the Ring of Fire is due to the convergence of these and their friction, which causes tension to accumulate to be released,” said Taveras.

And the activity in the Ring of Fire is the result of the so-called plate tectonics, the movement and collision of the layers of the Earth’s crust that give rise to earthquakes.

They can even generate volcanic activity.

In a previous interview with BBC Mundo, Hugo Delgado, director of Mexico’s National Center for Disaster Prevention, explained that an earthquake acts on a volcano like shaking a bottle of mineral water.

“Mechanical movement can cause gas to accumulate on the surface of the bottle. This increases the pressure and causes the water to spurt out. Something similar happens in the volcano, which has a high gas content”, dice.

According to the specialist, only powerful earthquakes, greater than magnitude 9, could have a highly relevant impact on nearby volcanoes.

An earthquake of this type, he says, can even cause the reactivation of volcanoes that have been dormant for centuries, causing those that are active to intensify or even suddenly decrease their activity.

“The impact of the seismic waves of these large-magnitude earthquakes is so strong that not only can they cause an eruption, but they can also cause the volcano to lose its activity.”

Seismological entities and centers continue to constantly monitor the tectonic activity recorded in recent hours, while evaluations of possible damage in the areas affected by the recent earthquakes progress.