In addition to the Pacific Ring of Fire, volcanic activity is described as occurring in a belt through the middle of which ocean?

• A. Indian Ocean
• B. Arctic Ocean
• C. Pacific Ocean
• D. Atlantic Ocean

Answer: (D)

Volcanic belts follow the edges and boundaries of moving tectonic plates. Along the Pacific, a large ring of volcanoes forms around the rim where many plates subduct, called the Ring of Fire. Another major belt sits along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean where the Eurasian and North American plates are moving apart in the north and the African and South American plates are separating in the south. At this divergent boundary, magma rises to create new crust, producing a continuous line of volcanic activity along the ocean floor. That central Atlantic belt is why the Atlantic Ocean is the right answer. The Indian and Arctic oceans don’t have a similarly extensive central volcanic belt, and the Pacific’s volcanic activity is already captured by the Ring of Fire.