The North American section of the Ring of Fire stretches from southern Mexico up to the southern coast of Alaska, where it turns west. This section of the ring includes the San Andreas Fault in California, which has generated a number of earthquakes in the state. It also includes the Paricutin volcano in Mexico and Mount St. Helens in Washington state.
The South American portion of the ring stretches the length of the western coast of the continent. The plates in this section helped create the long trail of Andean mountains along the Argentinean and Chilean coasts. Movement along this section has created several devastating earthquakes in Chile.
The Asian portion of the ring of fire stretches from Siberia down through the southeastern coast of Japan. The most famous volcano in this portion of the ring is Mount Fuji in Japan. Several earthquakes in Japan, including the Sendai earthquake in 2011, have occurred as a result of movement along the Asian Pacific Rim.
The South Pacific portion of the ring of fire starts in the Philippines, goes west through the Indonesian islands, and stretches down along the eastern coasts of Australia and New Zealand. The Hawaiian islands were formed as a result of the plate tectonics in this region, as well as earthquakes in Indonesia and New Zealand. The most famous active volcano in this section is Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.
