Discuss the geophysical characteristics of Circum- Pacific Zone (UPSC MAINS 2020)
Circum-Pacific zone is the region encompassing the coast of Asia, Australia, and Americas. It stretches from Bering strait in Siberia to New Zealand and coast of Chile to Alaska. Circum-Pacific zone is also a source of study to determine orogenesis process such as continent formation, earthquake activities, volcanic activity etc.
Geophysical characteristics of Circum-Pacific Zone
- Archipelago clusters
The Circum-Pacific zone consists of clusters of archipelago such as Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Polynesia, Chile etc.
- Ring of fire
Majority of global volcanoes are present along the perimeter of Circum-Pacific zone. This includes Mt Fiji, Mt Pinatubo, Mt Chimborazo, Mt Krakatau etc. Hence it is known as ring of fire.
- Convergent zone
The Circum-Pacific zone is a convergent zone between continental and oceanic plate. They are thus prone to regular earthquakes.
- Edges of continental plates
The Circum-Pacific zone consists of edges of continental plates such as Asian plate, Pacific plate, Nazca plate, Cocoa plate etc.
- Trenches
The edges of plates are destructive boundaries and as a result large trenches are found. They include Mariana trench, Guam trench etc.
- Hot spots
The Ring of Fire is also home to hot spots, areas deep within the Earth’s mantle from which heat rises. This heat facilitates the melting of rock in the brittle, upper portion of the mantle. The melted rock, known as magma, often pushes through cracks in the crust to form volcanoes.
- Formation & Location
A nearly continuous chain of volcanoes surrounds the Pacific Ocean. The chain passes along the west coast of North and South America, from the Aleutian Islands to the south of Japan, from Indonesia to the Tonga Islands, and New Zealand. This Circum-Pacific chain of volcanoes (often called the Ring of Fire) and the mountain ranges associated with it owe their formation to the repeated subduction of the oceanic lithosphere beneath the continents and the islands that surround the Pacific Ocean.The Ring of Fire is the result of plate tectonics (Convergent, Divergent Plate Boundary, Transform Plate Boundary).
Thus, Circum-Pacific zone has some of the distinct features of the world that makes its study very important and critical.
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