Describe and explain the global distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes.

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a) Describe and explain the global distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes. [16]

A volcano is a conical or dome-shaped structure that is built when magma escapes to the earth's surface as lava through a single opening called a vent. Being kept under great pressure inside the earth, the magma will rise to the surface through these vents the moment the pressure is released. This is most likely to happen through breaks and fractures caused by folding and faulting that occur at plate boundaries.

Taking a look at a map showing the distribution of volcanoes in world, we realise that most volcanoes occur along divergent (constructive) plate margins. These margins includes the mid-Atlantic ridge (between South American plate and African plate and North American plate and Eurasian plate) Many volcanoes have also developed in the region of the Pacific Ocean in a belt aptly called the Pacific Ring of Fire. This ring stretches from the Andes in South America, northwards to California in North America and all the way to the Philippines. In fact, many islands in the Philippine archipelago are volcanic islands. They also occur in convergent (destructive) plate margins (as evident from the volcanoes in the