List of Top 10 Most Active Earthquake Zones: The Top 10 Most Active Earthquake Zones are Pacific Ring of Fire, Himalayan Region, Alpide Belt, East African Rift, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Anatolian Fault Zone, San Andreas Fault, Japan Trench, Tonga Trench, and Java Trench. Pacific Ring of Fire also known as the “Ring of Fire”, is the world’s greatest earthquake and volcanic-prone zone. It accounts for 81 percent of recorded earthquakes in the world.
Earthquakes are the abrupt shaking of the earth’s surface by the sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust, resulting in seismic waves. It occurs due to the movement of tectonic plates beneath the Earth’s surface. The point where the energy is released is called the earthquake’s focus, and the point directly above it on the Earth’s surface is the epicenter.
In this article, we will look into the List of the Top 10 Most Active Earthquake Zones in the world. We will also discuss the location and characteristics of these active Earthquake Zones.
Table of Content
Earthquake
Earthquakes also called “quakes or tremors” are the abrupt shaking of the earth’s surface. It can last for a few seconds to minutes and is caused by the sudden release of energy in the earth’s crust, which generates seismic waves that propagate through the earth. The intensity and characteristics of an earthquake are determined by the seismic activities occurring in a specific region and the magnitude of the earthquake is measured by the Richter scale, which ranges from a scale of 0-10. It can result in ground shaking, soil liquefaction, landslides, fissures, avalanches, fires, and tsunamis. They can be quite damaging and can cause loss of life and property.
Also Read: Earthquake – Definition, Causes, Effects, Protection
List of Top 10 Most Active Earthquake Zones
Below is the list of Top 10 Most Active Earthquake Zones in the world:
| Earthquake Zone | Region/Location |
|---|---|
| Pacific Ring of Fire | Countries around the Pacific Ocean, including Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the west coasts of North and South America. |
| Himalayan Region | Nepal, India, Bhutan, parts of Pakistan, and China. |
| Alpide Belt | Southern Europe and Asia, including Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Iran. |
| East African Rift | Countries along the East African Rift, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. |
| Mid-Atlantic Ridge | Underwater mountain range in the Atlantic Ocean. |
| Anatolian Fault Zone | Across Turkey, including fault lines in cities like Istanbul. |
| San Andreas Fault | California, USA. |
| Japan Trench | Off the eastern coast of Japan. |
| Tonga Trench | South Pacific region, particularly around the Tonga Trench. |
| Java Trench | South of Indonesia, associated with seismic activity. |
Pacific Ring of Fire
The Pacific Ring of Fire, also known as the Circum-Pacific Belt, is a 40,000-kilometer-long tectonic belt in the Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire is named for the high volcanic and seismic activity along its edges that result from oceanic plates subducting beneath continental plates. It is a horseshoe-shaped region that stretches from South America and North America to Eastern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand and the earthquakes in the Pacific Ring of Fire are often stronger compared to earthquakes in other regions due to the unique tectonic characteristics of the area.
- The Ring of Fire also known as the Circum-Pacific Belt, contains between 750 and 915 active or dormant volcanoes, which is around two-thirds of the world’s total.
- Roughly 90% of all earthquakes and 75% of all active volcanoes on Earth occur in this region.
- The Ring of Fire is prone to earthquakes because of the amount of movement of tectonic plates in the area.
- The Ring of Fire includes the meeting points of many tectonic plates, including the Eurasian, North American, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Caribbean, Nazca, Antarctic, Indian, Australian, and Philippine plates.
- The plates are constantly sliding past, colliding into, or moving above or below each other. This movement results in deep ocean trenches, volcanic eruptions, and earthquake epicenters along the boundaries where the plates meet, called fault lines.
- The worst earthquake in the Ring of Fire struck Chile on May 22, 1960 with a magnitude of 9.5.
Himalayan Region
The central Himalayan region is one of the most seismically active zones in the world. The majority of states in the Himalayan region fall into zones IV and V on the seismic zoning map prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Zone V represents the highest seismic risk. The northern western Himalayan states are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and landslides because of their proximity to the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) fault.
- The Himalayan region is prone to earthquakes because it’s located near the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
- The Indian plate is moving northward at a rate of 1 cm per year, and it collides with the Eurasian plate. This collision causes earthquakes along the Himalayan arc.
- The entire region accommodates shallow earthquakes, while intermediate-depth earthquakes are concentrated at the eastern and western Himalayan syntaxis.
- In the Himalayan Region seismic activity occurs in countries like Nepal, India, Bhutan, and parts of Pakistan and China.
Alpide Belt
The Alpide Belt, also known as the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt, is a seismic and orogenic belt that extends for more than 15,000 kilometers along the southern margin of Eurasia. The belt includes a series of mountain ranges and roughly follows the boundary of the Eurasian and African tectonic plates. It also intersects with the Arabian Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. As these plates continue to move northward and collide with the Eurasian Plate, it creates tremendous energy.
- The Alpide Belt also known as the Tethyan orogenic belt stretches from the Middle East to the Himalayas and Indonesia and the Azores through the Mediterranean. It joins the Circum-Pacific Belt in the East Indies.
- he Alpide Belt is responsible for about 17% of the world’s largest earthquakes.
- It extends from Java and Sumatra, through the Indochina Peninsula, the Himalayas, the Trans-Himalayas, the mountains of Iran, the Caucasus, Anatolia, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.
- This zone includes earthquake-prone areas in Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Iran.
- The energy released in earthquakes from this belt is about 15 percent of the world total.
East African Rift
The East African Rift is a continental rift zone in East Africa that began developing 22–25 million years ago. It was previously thought to be part of a larger Great Rift Valley that extended north to Asia Minor. A rift valley is where two tectonic plates move away from each other and new land slowly forms between them. It is a 3,000-kilometer-long continental rift that extends from the Afar triple junction to western Mozambique.
- Rift is made up of a series of tectonic basins, or rift valleys, that are separated by shoals and bordered by uplifted shoulders. The two major rift valley systems of the East African Rift are the Gregory Rift and the Western Rift.
- Throughout the East African Rift, the continent of Africa is splitting in two and the African plate, also known as the Nubian plate, carries most of the continent, while the smaller Somali plate carries the Horn of Africa.
- The tectonic plates are diverging and cause seismic activity in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a volcanic mountain range that runs down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It extends from the Arctic to the Antarctic, covering more than 16,000 kilometers. The ridge is mostly underwater, rising 2–3 kilometers above the ocean floor. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge separates the Eurasian, North American, and African plates. In the North Atlantic, the MAR separates the North American and Eurasian plates, and the African plate. In the South Atlantic, the MAR separates the African and South American plates.
- The Mid Atlantic Ridge is a divergent plate boundary, which means that two tectonic plates are moving apart.
- As the Eurasian and North American plates move apart, rising magma solidifies and creates new oceanic crust along the rift valley.
- It is about 25,000 miles long and 300–600 miles wide. It rises about two miles above the seafloor.
- The Mid Atlantic Ridge spreads apart at rates of 2 to 5 cm per year, forming a rift valley that is about the depth and width of the Grand Canyon.
- The rocks that form at the ridge record the Earth’s polarity reversals, which occur when the Earth’s magnetism changes from a normal field to a reversed field.
Anatolian Fault Zone
The Anatolian Fault Zone is a fault system in Turkey that separates the Eurasian and Anatolian plates in northern Turkey. It is likely the most active fault system in the world and seismologists believe that earthquakes progress along the fault from west to east, with each one triggering the next further west.
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The fault zone includes the North Anatolian Fault and the East Anatolian Fault.
- North Anatolian Fault Zone: It is a 1,500 kilometer long fault that runs from the East Anatolian Fault in eastern Turkey, across northern Turkey, and into the Aegean Sea. The fault passes within 20 kilometers of Istanbul, Turkey’s most populated city and deforms at a rate of about 18 millimeters per year.
- East Anatolian Fault Zone: It is a 700 kilometer long fault that runs from eastern to south-central Turkey and forms the tectonic boundary between the Anatolian and Arabian plates. The fault has a slip rate of 6 to 10 millimeters per year.
- The Anatolian fault zone has caused some of the most destructive earthquakes in history. The average displacement of the two sides of the zone since 1939 is about 90 cm.
- Anatolian Plate geographically consists mostly of the Aegean Sea and the countries of Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, and Crete.
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a 1,300 kilometer fracture in the Earth’s crust and is a complex zone of broken and crushed rock that extends at least 10 miles into the Earth. The fault is a boundary between the North American and Pacific tectonic plates, and it cuts California in half from Cape Mendocino to the Mexican border. The San Andreas Fault has three zones: Northern, Central, Southern, each with different characteristics and earthquake risks. The southern section, from the Salton Sea to Parkfield, California, is historically the quietest.
- It is the most active fault in California and one of the most studied faults on the planet.
- The San Andreas fault is a strike-slip fault, which means the two sides move horizontally and parallel to the fault and each other.
- The fault is about 28 million years old, and California didn’t exist at the time.
- The San Andreas Fault is unique because it’s a transform boundary on land, while most plate boundaries are in the ocean.
- The fault can be seen from space that appears as a valley where the plates meet.
- San Francisco lies directly on the San Andreas Fault and other cities include Los Angeles, Palmdale, Palm Springs.
Japan Trench
The Japan Trench is a deep submarine trench in the western North Pacific Ocean, east of the Japanese islands. It is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and extends from the Kuril Islands to the northern end of the Izu Islands. The trench is 8,046 meters at its deepest point. Japan is an example of an ocean-ocean convergent plate boundary and the Japanese islands are built under subduction tectonics.
- The Japan Trench is a subduction zone where the Pacific Plate is subducting beneath the Okhotsk Plate.
- The trench is also a plate convergent zone, where the Pacific Plate is subducting below the Japan island.
- The Japanese Islands are situated across four tectonic plates: the Pacific, Eurasian, North American, and Philippine Sea plates and the ongoing subduction between these plates results in the intense seismic and volcanic activity experienced across the islands of Japan.
- In the Japan Trench at the depth of 10,542 meters, marine life faces extreme conditions of darkness, intense pressure, and low temperatures. Organisms like amphipods, snailfish, and other deep-sea species adapted to survive in this harsh environment.
- This subduction zone is prone to powerful earthquakes for example 2011 Tohoku Earthquake of 9.0 magnitude that struck on March 11, 2011, 130 kilometers east of Sendai.
Tonga Trench
The Tonga Trench is a submarine trench in the South Pacific Ocean. At about 10,800 meters, it is the deepest trench in the Southern Hemisphere and the second deepest on Earth. The Tonga Trench is about 850 miles long and forms the eastern boundary of the Tonga Ridge that runs between Samoa and Tonga in the north and New Zealand in the south. The deepest point of the Tonga Trench is called the Horizon Deep.
- The Tonga Trench is a subduction zone, which is a convergent plate boundary.
- The Tonga Trench is formed by the Pacific and Australian plates and the Pacific plate dives westwards beneath the Australia plate, forming the Tonga trench.
- The trench is located in the deep ocean biome, where there is no sunlight. Animals that live in the Tonga Trench must be adapted to the extreme pressure and cold.
Java Trench
The Java Trench, also known as the Sunda Trench, is an oceanic trench located in the Indian Ocean. With a maximum depth of 7,290 metres, it is the deepest point in the Indian Ocean. The trench stretches from the Lesser Sunda Islands past Java, around the southern coast of Sumatra on to the Andaman Islands, and forms the boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
- The Java Trench is a subduction zone, where the Australian-Capricorn Plate is subducting under the Eurasian Plate.
- The subduction process is responsible for the formation of the Indonesian archipelago, as well as the high levels of seismic and volcanic activity in the region.
- The Java Trench is an active volcanic and seismic zone and has generated several earthquakes, including 2009 West Java earthquake of 7.0 magnitude, 2019 Sunda Strait earthquake of 6.9 magnitude.
- The Java Trench is an important area for scientific research and scientists are studying the trench to learn more about the Earth’s interior and the processes that shape the Earth’s surface.
Summary – List of Top 10 Most Active Earthquake Zones
The Earth is seismically active and various regions experience frequent earthquakes. Encircling the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Ring of Fire tops the list as the most active earthquake zone in the world and consists of the boundaries of several tectonic plates. The Alpide Belt in southern Europe and Asia Minor and the Himalayan region, where the Indian and Eurasian plates collide, experiences frequent earthquakes, including major ones. The East African Rift that runs through eastern Africa, is a divergent boundary and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that stretches through the Atlantic Ocean, are also prone to earthquakes due to tectonic plate movements. Other notable earthquake zones include the Anatolian Fault Zone, The Java trench, the Japan Trench, and the San Andreas Fault in California.
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FAQs on List of Top 10 Most Active Earthquake Zones
Where is the most active earthquake zone in the world?
The most active earthquake zone in the world is along the rim of the Pacific Ocean also known as “Ring of Fire”, where about 81 percent of largest earthquakes occur.
Which seismic zone is highly active?
The Circum-Pacific belt, the Alpide belt, the mid-Atlantic Ridge are the world’s seismically most active zones.
Which of the following countries is the most seismically active?
Japan is the world’s most seismically active country. It’s located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and has an average of more than 1,500 earthquakes of magnitude 4 and above each year.
Which country is safe from earthquake?
The country that is considered safe from earthquake is the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. It is located on a tectonic plate that is very stable which means that there is very little seismic activity in the region.
Why Japan always hit by earthquake?
Japan experiences many earthquakes because of its location on the Ring of Fire, a major tectonic plate boundary. It is located at the meeting point of several tectonic plates, including the Pacific Plate, Philippine Sea Plate, and Eurasian Plate.
What is the biggest earthquake ever recorded?
The largest earthquake ever recorded was a magnitude 9.5 earthquake that occurred on May 22, 1960, off the coast of southern Chile.